


No Romo

by snekwami



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aro/Ace August, Friendship, Gen, Marcnath but in the background mostly, it's Ace Solidarity, listen these two museum dorks are my brotp, slow burn but friendship (that's a thing right?), so so so much friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-06-21 23:50:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15569091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snekwami/pseuds/snekwami
Summary: Two museum-dwellers accidentally become best friends.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Aro/Ace August everyone!!! As an aroace this event means a lot to me and I had to write something, hehe. The prompt for week 1 is Queerplatonic Relationships so the first few chapters of this is gonna be that. (Well, eventually...) Beware spoilers for the Reverser episode if you haven't seen it yet.
> 
> (In case you're wondering, aromantic = does not experience romantic attraction, you get the idea)

Alix spent so much time at the Louvre that most of her classmates at this point were convinced that she lived there. Whether or not she did was irrelevant – it was the place where she hung out most, and where she needed to get back to right now to go hide from this suffocating monstrosity known as _Valentine’s Day_.

Seriously, did people have to make such a big deal about it? Did their teacher really have to bring up sappy fairy-tale love stories in class? At least school was over for the day, and Alix could go shut herself away in the exhibition storeroom for the rest of the night with her skates strapped to her feet and upbeat music blasting through her headphones. (No stupid love songs, of course. The Splatoon soundtrack was good about that.)

Passing a display of unnecessarily expensive chocolates in a shop window and trying so very hard not to roll her eyes, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Please say that wasn’t another message from the sports store with another “exciting Valentine’s Day offer” on “heart-shaped tennis rackets”, she was already considering cancelling her subscription to that place even if it did mean she’d have to pay full price for her skate repairs…

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and had a look. Nope, it was a message from _Chloé_ of all people. A photo, actually. A photo of… huh, poor Kim. That didn’t look very fun.

There was a gasp from somewhere behind her. She turned around to see Nathaniel standing not too far behind, looking at his phone in shock.

“Did Chloé send it to you too?” she asked him.

He nodded, his eyes lifting from his phone to look at her for a second before quickly looking at the floor, shy as ever. “Yeah…”

“I guess she must have sent it to everyone in our class,” Alix continued, deleting the message. “How much do you wanna bet Kim’s about to get akumatized?”

She regretted asking it for a second, watching Nath recoil slightly at the mention of akumas. It hadn’t been that long since he himself had been turned into Evillustrator. The emotions must still have been pretty fresh for him.

“You’re right, he probably will be akumatized,” he continued, putting his own phone away and picking up his big art folder. “Yet another akuma villain going after Chloé.”

“Why did he even ask her out in the first place? I’m not saying he deserved this, ‘cause he didn’t, but honestly that was a pretty bad idea.”

Nath shrugged. “Well, it’s not like you can help who you like, right?”

“Can’t relate,” she scoffed, her rather salty mood getting the better of her.

“What do you mean?”

Usually Nath was shy enough to hide behind his hair all the time and avoid conversation. But right now he seemed genuinely curious, looking directly at her for once, a slight frown on his face. It was enough to make her pause, to think twice before just brushing it off and changing the subject like she would have done with anyone else.

The thing about Nathaniel was that he was… well, _trustworthy_. It wasn’t like he had many friends, so he wouldn’t go around spreading gossip or spilling people’s secrets. He seemed like kind of a wimp too, so surely he would be easy to handle if he didn’t like what she had to say.

Alix took a deep breath and just went for it. “I’m aromantic. So yeah, can’t relate.”

She was expecting all the usual nonsense. _What does that mean? Surely that doesn’t exist? Aren’t you too young to call yourself that? You’re just confused! It’s a phase! You’ll find someone you like one day!_

What she didn’t expect was for Nath to give her a nervous little smile and say, “I guess this day of the year must be really rough for you then, huh?”

She raised her eyebrows – she had underestimated him, alright. Her hopes shot up. “You know what it means? Are you also…?”

“No, I just spend a lot of time on the internet,” he said quickly, blushing.

“Oh, right.” Of course he did. And he had a crush on Marinette, didn’t he? He wasn’t aro too. But still, he knew what it meant, and that was a great deal better than anyone else she had ever come out to. Plus, he seemed supportive. Most people were usually too stuck on trying to wrap their heads around the perfectly simple fact that some people just didn’t get crushes, let alone be supportive. Or even nice at all, really.

“But I guess I relate a little bit,” he said, looking down so his hair covered most of his face, and blushing so red that it almost blended in anyway. “I’m, um, ace… well I think I am… so there’s that…”

“You’re ace too?!” Alix leapt forwards so fast that Nath almost dropped his art folder in shock.

“Yeah, I…”

“Dude! Duuuuude! I’ve never met another ace in real life before, this is so cool!” She grabbed his arm and began pulling him down the street.

“Where are you taking me?”

“The Louvre. We have so much to discuss, new friend.” She turned back for a second to see that a smile had appeared on that nervous face of his when she called him her friend. Good!

“I was heading there anyway, actually.”

That wasn’t really a surprise – Nath went to the Louvre a lot. It made sense that an arty kid like him would want to look at all the paintings, even though that area of the museum wasn’t exactly the Kubdel area of expertise.

And he was asexual? Alix had never even considered that anyone else in her class might be. At 15 years old, it seemed a universal teenagery thing to talk about having an interest in… Well, Nath had never said anything like that, nor had he ever expressed outright disinterest like Alix herself often did, but he never spoke much anyway, so she’d had no way of knowing. He was such a mystery.

Alix led Nath into the museum from one of the guarded side entrances. It was more of a habit than a necessity these days – Paris being hit by so many akuma attacks meant less tourists blocking up the main entrance. But still, Nath seemed pretty happy about getting to go through usually restricted areas and seeing the Louvre from the perspective of someone who spent the vast majority of their time here.

She stopped just before bringing him into the quarters reserved for her family. “Hey Nath? Uh, keep the aroace thing a secret, okay?”

He nodded. “Of course. I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

“Thanks. Especially keep it quiet around my dad. Trust me.”

Without waiting for a reply, she opened the door and went in. Nath followed her, turning sideways so his big art folder didn’t get stuck in the doorway. Her family were all still working so the place was empty for now. They went into her room and she shut the door, cutting them off from the mushy loved-filled Valentine air out there. Finally, peace!

“So you really do live here,” Nath mumbled, looking around.

“Allegedly.” She threw her school things into a corner, kicked her Heelys off, then jumped up on her bed so she could be taller than him. “Anyway, new friend, wh–”

There was a knock on the door, followed by her father’s voice. “Alix, are you in there?”

He was back from the pharaoh exhibit area already?! She hastily got down from the bed and went to open the door. “Oh hey dad, you’re back early…”

“There’s an akuma attack going on right now, I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Is the akuma Kim? I bet it’s Kim.”

He was looking past her into the room, not paying attention. “Who’s this?”

She beckoned Nath over. “This is Nathaniel, that arsty kid in my class. I invited him over ‘cause he loves this museum, he’s here all the time anyway, we may as well hang out.” Best not to mention the whole _ace solidarity_ part of it right now. Nath gave a rather shy wave, almost dropping his art folder in the process.

Her father frowned. “Make sure you two stay inside until the akuma attack is over.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, we weren’t gonna go anywhere anyway.”

“Good. I have to get back to some work, so I’ll leave the two of you alone now, don’t get into trouble…” He shut the door again and his footsteps faded away. From his tone of voice it sounded like he had got the wrong idea, which was annoying to say the least. To be fair, she usually tended to spend Valentine’s Day as alone as possible. Today was different.

Nath had already got his phone out and was scrolling through something. “The Ladyblog hasn’t updated yet, but the forums are saying there’s a flying angel shooting arrows of hatred at people.”

Alix hopped up onto the bed again. “Cool.”

“I’m not sure ‘cool’ is the word I would use,” Nath said, frowning. “So, this villain who they’re calling Dark Cupid, when he shoots an arrow at someone it transforms their love into hate.”

“So he’s using _arrows_ to turn people _aro_.”

He giggled a little. “Yeah. Though apparently his arrows affect platonic love too, so you’d end up hating your friends as well.”

“What? That’s lame.”

“I know, right? But ooh, listen to this! Everyone who’s been hit by an arrow has magical black lipstick – look!” He held the phone up at her. There was a blurry picture of someone wearing black lipstick and grinning maniacally. “So you’re right, it is kind of cool!”

Well of course an emo dork like him would be into the _aesthetic_ of a supervillain’s powers. “So is this villain Kim?” she asked.

“I’m not sure, no one has uploaded a picture yet. But it sounds like it could be him, doesn’t it? He got rejected and humiliated by Chloé, so he’s doing the same to everyone else…”

He didn’t sound very happy. Maybe he was remembering the cause of his own akumatization – he had been humiliated by Chloé too, and essentially rejected by his crush. That must have hurt a lot. Alix decided to change the subject.

“What’s that art project thing you’ve got there?”

He hugged it to his chest. “Oh, um… well it’s not very good… The truth is, I draw comics so much I’ve been getting complacent, so I tried branching out. Got myself massive paper and had a go at still-life art. But it’s not as much fun.”

“Then don’t do it! Go back to drawing comics and stuff you like.”

“You think I should? I don’t know how interested people would be in reading my comics though, after the Evillustrator incident…”

“I’d read them.”

His face lit up. “Really?”

“Yeah, of course. Though, uh, I’m assuming you draw stuff other than your OC swooning over Marinette.”

“I do, don’t worry,” he said quickly, blushing and clutching his art folder even tighter. “I draw a lot of Ladybug and Chat Noir adventures these days.”

“That sounds awesome!”

“Maybe you can join the art club and I’ll show you there.”

“Meh, I’m not really the arty type. But I’ll think about it.” She suddenly grabbed a Nerf gun off the shelf and took a shot at him. “Think fast!”

He deflected it instinctively with the art folder. “What are you doing?!”

“Nerf gun battle!” She took another Nerf gun off the shelf, the one that used to belong to Jalil a few years ago, and tossed it at him. “You just look like you could use a bit of fun right now.”

He grinned, putting down the art folder and picking up the Nerf gun. “True. But I’ve never had one of these before so I don’t really know what I’m doing…”

Hearing someone holding a Nerf gun and being _humble_ was the most surreal experience. Usually her Nerf gun battles were against either Jalil, who was surprisingly an expert at it, or Kim, who liked to pretend he was. And yet Nathaniel so easily admitted his lack of skill? It almost made her want to go easy on him… _almost_.

“You learn how to Nerf gun, and I’ll learn how to art,” she said. “Deal?”

He nodded, holding the gun up with an unusually determined expression on his face. “Deal!”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 Nathaniel had become very good at noticing things over the years. It was a side-effect of being so quiet, really. With no one to really talk to, he was free to observe the world around him at his leisure. People would easily spill their secrets within earshot, assuming that if his head was in a notebook then he wasn’t paying attention to whatever they were saying. He had learnt a lot.

For example, he was sure he knew a lot more about his new friend Alix than she suspected. It hadn’t been much of a surprise to him when she told him she was aro; he had seen the way she turned up her nose at romance, even if she tried to keep her disinterest hidden most of the time. He knew she was somewhat a third wheel of the class, hanging out with different friends each day, but never quite managing to connect with any single one of them on a deeper-than-superficial level. He knew that under her mile-wide sarcastic streak she hid a rather sweet interior.

Another skill he had become very good at over the years was introspecting. Whenever he was sketching away his mind would wander, thinking deep thoughts, contemplating life. Often he would create self-indulgent stories as a way to process everything going through his brain.

Recently, though, he found his thoughts heading in a different direction – towards a certain pink-haired classmate of his.

During class it was so easy to just stare ahead and let his mind run. What was she thinking about? What was her opinion on this topic or that topic? How tall was she, exactly, and would she ever overtake him? How did she come to realize she was aroace? Why would someone as outspoken and confident as her want to keep it a secret?

It felt strange, thinking about someone so much with no real reason to. It wasn’t the way he used to daydream about Marinette – that had been a crush. It wasn’t the way he would think about Ladybug, his muse. Alix was just… intriguing. For all Nath’s introspection, he was drawn to her and couldn’t even figure out _why_.

 

 

“The art club is more than just an art club,” he explained to her the first time she attended, sitting beside her at the desk and keeping his voice down. “The other people here from our class are Marinette, Juleka, Rose, and me. Notice anything in common?”

She looked around at them all, then turned back to him and shrugged. “You’re all nice people?”

Hearing her compliment him gave him a surge of pride. “Well, I didn’t mean that… It’s just, I’m ace, right? And Marinette came out as bi that one time in the class chat. And Juleka and Rose are obviously into each other. So…”

“So none of you are straight,” Alix said, grinning. “I get it now.”

“Exactly. And since I found out you’re aroace, it would make sense if you join too.”

“Nice. Thanks for inviting me here.” Her smile faded away and she began picking at her phone case. “You guys are all good at art, though…”

“I’ve already thought about that,” Nath said. “I have an idea for something you might enjoy.”

“What?”

He leaned forward and pressed the home button on her phone, grinning. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that Splatoon wallpaper on your phone. You like painting.”

“But that’s a video game, not real life!”

“Spray-painting exists in real life, though. We’ve got the equipment here. You can paint walls as much as you like.”

“You think I’ll be good at that?”

“It’s not about being good at it, it’s about having fun! Come on, I’ll show you!”

He took her arm and pulled her to the giant wall canvas on the edge of the room, then handed her a spray-paint mask and paint can.

“Knock yourself out. Not literally.”

Stepping back, he gave her a thumbs up. Having the equipment right in her hands seemed to give her the boost she needed – with a smile spreading over her face, she put the mask on and began spraying paint on the canvas wall. It was messy, and she didn’t seem to be trying to make anything in particular, but from her enthusiasm it did seem like she was having fun. Mind at ease now, Nath went and sat back down to work on his comics.

“Hey Nath!”

He looked up to see Alix waving at him. “Yeah?”

“Can you pass me another colour? I’m gonna try and draw you! I mean paint you. Spray paint you. Whatever.”

He picked up the can of red and threw it at her. It was the same colour as his hair, after all, so probably pretty useful. She caught it easily and continued painting.

He turned back to his comic, unable to get a smile off his face now – she was really painting him? That was really sweet, he’d never had anyone do that for him before. Usually he was the one drawing other people. This friendship, it was… nice. He didn’t even know what he’d been missing.

Well, neither of them exactly had best friends, did they? Did she count as his best friend? Would it be weird to ask? He certainly _wanted_ her to be his best friend, he couldn’t deny that. It had been so easy to make best friends back when he was much younger, when other kids wouldn’t judge so much, wouldn’t act so cliquey, where it was easier to fit in. In time all those close friends had drifted away, leaving him alone and unable to figure out how to get that feeling back.

Now, though… it was coming back.

He tried to concentrate on his comic, but his eyes kept going right back to that wall that Alix was painting. She actually seemed fairly good at it already, apart from the paint dripping everywhere and leaving long red vertical streaks, she probably needed some more practise. Perhaps this medium wasn’t exactly suited to portraits anyway.

“How does it look?” she called to him, noticing him watching.

“It’s really good!” he said. “I’m proud of you!”

“Thanks!”

He had meant it – he really was proud. Then again, Alix had said that she was proud of him for managing to score some hits during their Nerf gun battles, so it was a similar thing really. They’d had a few more since that first day. It was actually a lot of fun. He was looking forward to the next one, or even just his next visit to the Louvre in general.

That reminded him…

“Can you teach me how to rollerskate?” he asked her.

She beamed at him. “Sure! You can borrow Jalil’s old skates, he hasn’t used them in years.”

“Awesome!”

Rollerskating really did sound fun. And plus, he would get to hang out with his friend a lot more – where was the downside?

 

 

The downside became apparent as soon as he began his first “lesson”, in one of the Louvre corridors after hours. Nathaniel had never been good at sporty activities, despite his rather heroic OC comic hero, and he realized very quickly that he had no sense of balance whatsoever.

“I’m gonna knock over all the paintings,” he mumbled, edging along at a snail’s pace while clutching onto Alix’s arm for dear life.

“Whatever, they’re just paintings,” she said.

“How can you say that? They’re works of art!”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right…” She didn’t sound particularly convinced. Nath just sat down on the nearest bench, his limbs already aching despite how little time he had spent actually skating so far.

“I changed my mind about skating,” he said.

“What? Already?”

“I don’t think it’s my kind of thing. I don’t even know why I asked you to teach me in the first place…”

He realized it was a lie as soon as he said it. Of course he knew why he wanted her to teach him – hanging out with her was fun! And there was more, too. An anxious wreck like him found so much to admire in her impulsive nature, the way she could just say what was on her mind without a second thought.

“I… I wanted to be more like you, I guess,” he admitted. “You’re so cool. And inspirational.”

To his surprise, she laughed. “Nath, I thought the same thing about you! You’re so much more sensible than me, and good at art and stuff, it’s so cool! But if you don’t wanna learn to skate then fair enough. We can go do something else.”

For a second he was rather taken aback at how highly she seemed to think of him. The admiration did go both ways after all, then?

“Thanks,” he said, smiling at her. “How about another Nerf gun battle? I think I might actually win this time.”

“Hell nah, there’s no way you’ll beat me. But yeah, let’s do it!”

He unstrapped his skates and ran off after her back to her home quarters, almost slipping over in his socks on the smooth floor. One thing he still wasn’t sure about, and at this point didn’t want to ask – did Alix actually live here? It seemed like she did, but surely someone couldn’t just live at the Louvre, could they?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Akfhskdjhfksjd this keeps accidentally ending up longer than I mean it to, sorry for the delay! The next chapter is gonna be heartfelt af

“I’m pretty sure Juleka’s about to get akumatized,” Nathaniel said, sitting down on the steps in front of Alix. “Rose was telling me about it. Apparently Juleka missed the class photo because she got locked in the toilets. By Chloé, of course.”

He had opened his little sketchpad on his knees and taken a pencil out from behind his ear. Alix leaned over to watch what he was drawing – now that she was part of the art club, she tended to spend a lot of time watching Nath work on his art. Not only was it helpful to learn new skills, but it was an excuse to hang out with him even more. These days she used pretty much any chance she could get to talk to him.

“What kind of akuma villain do you think she’ll be?” she asked. “Juleka’s all gothy, right? Maybe she’ll be a vampire or something.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.” Nath was drawing a figure outline on his sketchpad, his red fringe falling over his face as he looked down at it. “Her eyes are already red. Maybe her skin will be deathly pale, though, like a sheet. And she’ll have those vampire fangs.”

“And a cape. Vampires have capes, right?”

“I think it depends on the vampire. But yeah, I’ll give her a cape.” He added a loose triangle onto the back of the figure. “One of those big collars, too. Wait… will she sparkle? Is she one of _those_ vampires?”

Alix shrugged. “I have no idea what her opinion is on sparkling vampires.”

Nath paused to think for a second, before shaking his head. “Nope. No sparkles. I can’t be bothered to draw them.”

He had a grin on his face now, and Alix continued to watch him draw with interest. These days he was much more open with her than he used to be, cracking jokes and encouraging her ridiculous sense of humour. She hadn’t realized quite how attached to him she had become until she found herself paying attention to him even when he wasn’t interacting with her. More outspoken now, he talked to other members of their class fairly often, and it was all too easy to let her focus rest on them, all the way on the other side of the room, than on whatever work she was supposed to be doing.

Why did she even find him so cool in the first place? She couldn’t put her finger on it. But it was undeniable – Nathaniel was absolutely, definitely, 100% the coolest kid in her class. He had to be. Why else would she be so dead-set on being best friends with him? No one else in the class was worth _quite_ that much effort, even though they were all pretty cool too.

“What kind of powers would she have?” Nath continued, head resting on his arm as he carried on sketching. “I guess there’s always biting people, like actual vampires do, but that would be kinda, uh… weird. Hawk Moth hasn’t been giving people overly weird powers yet.”

“Well vampires don’t have reflections,” Alix suggested. “And Juleka’s got that curse thing where she doesn’t show up in photos, right? So maybe she’ll curse everyone else to have no reflections or appearances in photos, something like that.”

“Hmm. That would make sense. Though it’s not a very aggressive power, is it? It’ll take forever for Ladybug and Chat Noir to notice something like that.”

“True…”

He suddenly held up the sketchpad at her, a sunny smile on his face. “Done! What do you think?”

It was a quick little sketch, unmistakeably Juleka, but seemingly dressed more like Count Dracula. Alix nodded, smiling back. “Perfect. I bet that’s exactly what she’s gonna look like.”

“We’ll just wait and see, then…”

At that moment there were shocked gasps from others in the courtyard. Alix and Nath turned to see that an akuma villain had just landed, one that was now making an announcement, and sure enough that was Juleka’s voice echoing through the school – a crueller version, but certainly her.

And she looked nothing like a vampire whatsoever.

“Welp, we were so wrong,” Alix muttered.

“Yep.” Nath ripped out the piece of paper and scrunched it up. “So, _so_ wrong.”

“I wasn’t expecting a giant pink clown.”

“That’s the last thing I was expecting.”

“I’m gonna say it. She looks ridiculous.”

“Hard agreed.”

“Uh, she’s zapping people, do you think we should get out of here or…?”

“Shit, yeah. See you in art club later!”

Nathaniel leapt to his feet and sped off. For a second Alix had to restrain her laughter – she’d never heard Nath _swear_ before! He had always seemed like one of those goody-two-shoes kids who wouldn’t curse if you paid them. But evidently all he needed was to be around someone he was comfortable with. Like her.

A shot from evil Juleka zoomed past her shoulder, jolting her out of her thoughts. Oh yeah, akuma attack. She needed to get away. Being turned into a weird pink clown clone was not on her to-do list today.

 

 

It was much later than usual when the members of her class finally made it to art club. After Reflekta’s attack, everyone had banded together to help take a proper class photo with Juleka in it, which took up quite a lot of time. Alix didn’t mind at all, though. Juleka was a pretty cool friend too, it just seemed _right_ to help her feel better. Or maybe Alix was just getting friendlier in general these days.

“Alix, there you are!” Nath was already sitting at the table and waving her over. She hurried to join him.

“Dude, you didn’t wait for me at the park–”

“I had to get my surprise for you ready.”

“Surprise…?”

He tapped the little sketchbook that was on the desk. “I’ve been working on a new comic idea, and I think you’ll like this one.”

A new comic? Yes! Nath’s comics these days were always fun to read, now that they weren’t just pages and pages of self-indulgent Nathanette fluff.

“Is it another superhero one?” she asked.

“No, it’s… um…” He lowered his voice. “Look, I know I’m not really good at coming up with story ideas, and so much of what I draw is all sappy and lovey-dovey and you’re not into that stuff.”

“Who cares if I’m not into it? Just draw what you want.”

“What I want is to draw something you’ll like! So here, I did this…” Nath opened the sketchbook to show her the first page. “It’s a soulmate AU, but from the point-of-view of someone who’s aromantic.”

Just hearing the words “soulmate AU” had already set Alix’s brain to fight mode, at least, until the second part of that sentence registered in her brain. An aromantic character, in a _soulmate AU?_ Surely those things were mutually exclusive. She looked at the page to see Nath’s artwork of the aromantic protagonist, a moody-looking girl with frizzy green hair.

“In this AU,” he continued, turning the page, “people see hearts when they fall in love, and red hearts if it’s their soulmate. This character has never seen the hearts, though, and it’s highly unusual to have reached her age without seeing them even once. She wonders what’s wrong.”

There were more sketches on these pages, fit into comic-style panels with captions over the top. The moody girl was even grumpier now, her peers all swooning over invisible hearts while she looked on from the corner, unable to understand what she was missing.

“But sometimes, when she looks at people, she sees stars. She doesn’t really tell anyone. Until…”

He turned over another page. The girl was no longer moody – all of a sudden her eyes were wide in surprise, and the panel around her filled with golden sparkles.

“…one day she meets someone, and for the first time, she sees bright yellow stars. It’s never happened before. And this person sees the yellow stars too when they meet her. They’ve seen hearts before, but never stars like this.”

Sure enough, the page was covered in glittering stars. It looked like Nath had got a yellow gel pen and just gone wild with it. The girl and her new acquaintance both appeared in awe of what they were seeing, stars around them everywhere.

“And then, uh… well I haven’t thought so much about this part but I guess they make best friends forever and live happily ever after. The girl realizes she can be happy without romance and the only reason she was miserable before was because everyone else was making her feel that way. Or something. You’re the aro one, you can help me with the inner turmoil bit.” He closed the sketchbook and turned to look at her. “So, what do you think?”

What did she think? Well, considering how much she was having to internally restrain herself from just glomping him in a hug and never letting go…

“It’s awesome!” She settled for giving him a little punch on the arm instead. “Seriously, you’re really gonna make a comic about that?”

“Yeah! I really need to branch out and draw comics about characters who don’t have love interests. Well… romantic love interests, I mean. Friendship is fine.” He blushed a little. “Actually, it’s kind of for me. I was really heartbroken for a while after the Evillustrator thing, and I need to remind my brain that it’s okay to focus more on friends, than on… Marinette…”

His voice had gone rather quiet, considering that Marinette herself was in the room.

“Are you still into her?” Alix asked.

“I… I don’t think so.”

“Then you should make friends with her too.”

He blushed even more. “I’m not really good at making friends.”

“Are you sure?” Alix said, putting an arm around him. “Because you seem to be doing an awesome job at making friends with me so far. I mean, convincing me to join art club? Drawing the aro comic thing? Nerf gun battles? Dude, you are top notch friendship material. _Best_ friendship material. I really mean it.”

He seemed quite taken aback by her compliments for a few seconds. Alix herself was surprised too – she didn’t tend to say things like that directly to people’s faces, usually too wary that being overly nice might be mistaken for _flirting_ , which was just… ew. But at least Nathaniel would properly understand the sentiment.

“Maybe you’re right,” he said. “If I could make friends with you, I can make proper friends with Marinette too.”

“Yeah, that’s the spirit!”

“Thanks, Alix. And…” He gave her a sunny smile and put the sketchbook in her hands. “Thanks for being my friend. You’re top notch friendship material too. Making this comic with you is gonna be so much fun.”

Top notch friendship material… man, it was so nice to hear someone other than Jalil saying that. Pretty much everyone else in the class already had their own top notch friend, and there was no room for Alix there except as an undignified third wheel, a hanger-on, uninvited and unwelcome. Now Nath had changed all that.

She watched as he got up and went to go compliment Marinette on whatever fashion thing she was working on. He still seemed quite shy, but at least Marinette was one of the nicest members of the class, even going so far as to organize Juleka’s rescheduled class photo earlier. It wouldn’t be difficult for them to make friends.

Alix flicked through Nath’s sketchbook, taking a closer look at the draft work for his new comic. He really was very good at art, wasn’t he? This green-haired girl looked real enough to leap out of the page any second.

_You’re the aro one, you can help me with the inner turmoil bit._ So he wanted her help with story advice. That, she could definitely offer. There were too many stories to tell, stories of angst, frustration, disbelief, confusion, tears… the usual run-of-the-mill depressing aro experiences. Plenty of those to pick from, unfortunately.

This green-haired girl, though. Something about her seemed familiar to Alix. Nath didn’t base the character on her, did he…?

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Nathaniel worked hard on his comic. He worked hard on all his comics, of course, but this felt different. This time he wasn’t just drawing to cater to his own whims. This time he wanted it to be a present for Alix.

There were too many reasons to pinpoint just one. There was the fact that they were pretty much best friends at this point, true. There was also the fact that both of them being ace gave him a sort of connection to her that was hard to describe in words. Was “ace solidarity” a thing? It sure felt like it.

And she _inspired_ him. It had been so long since he’d had a close friend that he was used to keeping to himself all the time. Even now he was still quiet, of course, but things were different. He could casually chat with the rest of his classmates without the nerves to accompany it. He felt freer to say what was on his mind, to share his true feelings.

He still wished he could be more like her. How amazing would it be to be as cool as someone like her? As much as he tried, he couldn’t do it. But then maybe that was a good thing. After all, she seemed to like hanging out with him just the way he was.

 

“How is it?” he asked as she read the finished comic in her room one day after school. “Is it good? Should I change anything?”

There was a spark in her eyes. “Dude, this is so cool! I love it!”

“You do?”

“Hell yes!” Within a second she had put down the comic and clung onto him in a hug. Considering how small she was, it was… kind of adorable, actually. Like a koala on a tree. “Listen, I’m… I’m not a huggy person, so don’t get used to this. But uh… if you ever need anything, like ever, at all, I will help you with it. Up to and including murder.”

He gladly hugged her back. “What, because I drew a comic for you?”

“Because you drew something that’s more relatable than anything else,” she said, pulling back to look at him. “It’s hard to get into stuff when everything’s so damn shippy all the time. But you went out of your way to do this for me, so yeah. Thank you. I will lay down my life for you in the skeleton war.”

Nath grinned and gave her hair a ruffle. “I forbid you from sacrificing yourself in the skeleton war. But I’m really happy you liked the comic.”

“The main character, is she based on… um, anyone you know?”

“Yes, that’s you.”

“I knew it! So the guy she makes friends with, is that you?”

He simply shrugged, though the answer was a resounding _yes_. From the way she was looking at him, he could tell that she knew it perfectly well. It had been pretty obvious. Maybe it would be best to keep this particular comic just between the two of them for now.

“Anyway, you need any help with anything?” Alix asked. “Not murder or skeleton wars, I know. But really, I’ll do my best to help.”

“Nah, I don’t think there’s anything I need help with right now, unless you can come up with an idea for a new comic…”

“The adventures of Alix and Nathaniel sock-sliding around the Louvre after hours and avoiding security.”

“Uh… was that a suggestion for a comic, or a suggestion for real life?”

“Both.” She had a smirk on her face now. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you drawing the Louvre in the backgrounds of all your drawings, you know.”

“Well, it’s easy to draw…”

That was only partially true. Yes, a quick sketch of the iconic pyramid was easier than bothering with a proper detailed background, but the truth was that this place was starting to feel like a second home to him. The art exhibits had always had a soft spot in his heart, but now this area did too. The Kubdel quarters.

“But yes, let’s go sock-sliding!” he said quickly.

“Yeah! And let’s _not_ get caught this time…”

“I’ll be stealthier now, I swear…”

He kicked off his shoes and followed her out of her room, looking forward to this. Silly adventure shenanigans were a lot more fun than he used to think – but then maybe that was because he was with Alix.

 

 

It was a while before her offer for help was actually needed. Those several weeks were some of the best yet – Nath worked on new comics, became more sure of himself, made friends with more of his classmates, and even made friends with people outside his class. Like Marc, that blushy new kid in the art club who was even shyer than him.

That didn’t last.

It was all that diary’s fault. “Ladybug’s” diary. Marinette had given it to him, and she was friends with Alya, who ran the Ladyblog, right? She could feasibly have acquired such a thing, right? Nath didn’t have any reason to doubt that this was the real, legit diary of Ladybug. He expected it to be.

So when it turned out to be _Marc_ …

It was strange how, when in a situation where Nath was not the shyest one around, it was so easy to become complacent. To lose his temper. To assume the worst. It reminded him all too clearly of his birthday, where Chloé had taken his sketchbook and made a fool of him in class, announcing his crush on Marinette to the world, followed by Evillustrator being betrayed by the girl of his dreams.

Was this Marinette’s revenge? Was she teaming up with Marc to make a fool of Nath _again?_

_Please pick up, please pick up…_

He held his phone to his ear as he strode towards the Louvre, having left Marc back at the park with that stupid diary. His brain still wasn’t working right – well, it didn’t seem to work right around Marc anyway for some odd reason, but that was beside the point. The blind panic that this situation had put him in, that he was being humiliated again, it was impossible to control, and he just needed to talk to–

“Hey Nath, what’s up?”

“Oh Alix, thank god you’re there!” He clutched the phone tighter, his pace increasing. “Are you at the Louvre right now? Can I come over?”

“Sure, what’s wrong?”

Could she tell from his voice? Maybe she could. “I need to talk about something that just happened, I… I’m scared I’m gonna get akumatized again, I’m just in such a bad mood…”

“Aw man, what happened?”

“I’ll tell you when I get there. See you soon.”

“Alright, take care of yourself…”

He hung up and hurried on. Even despite all his new friendships recently, they were all seeming so _superficial_ right now. Any one of his classmates could suddenly turn on him, the way Marinette and Marc had just done. Taking advantage of his feelings. Playing a cruel trick on him.

And yet… he still trusted Alix. Somehow, instinctively, he found himself gravitating towards the Louvre – the one place where he always felt welcome no matter what, where he could let his guard down and just be himself without any worries clouding his mind. He used to wonder if it was the feeling of being in a museum, surrounded by art, that put him at ease. Now, he was beginning to believe it was more to do with the tiny little lifesaver who “allegedly” lived there.

Alix was his best friend. If there was anyone he could turn to for help, it was her. He never had been any good at letting his guard down, but for once in his life he _needed_ to confide in someone. She had promised to help him, and he was counting on that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, this chapter got long. Really long. (Oh, and background Marcnath! or whatever Marc and Nath's ship name is, lol)

The gallery in the Louvre was eerily quiet. Nathaniel had been here plenty of times before, even during closing hours when no tourists were left, but it was strange to see it so empty during the daytime. Was there an akuma attack going on? Probably. Who even cared. There was enough on his plate right now without supervillains adding to his problems.

“So what happened?” Alix asked, fastening her helmet before beginning to skate around, on the move like always.

Nath took a deep breath. _Venting_ was not something that came naturally to him. He tended to keep things to himself, his only outlet being putting a pencil to paper and doodling his feelings away. Even now he held his book in his hand and was sketching without paying much attention to what he was drawing, his fingers on autopilot as his brain whirred.

Where to even begin? How did people just… _talk_ about their emotions? These were things that could not be put into words, and that was why he focused more on art! Saying out loud what was on his mind was a thought too nerve-wracking to contemplate most of the time.

This time he couldn’t just keep it inside, though. Keeping everything bottled up was the perfect recipe for akuma villains, and he didn’t want his day getting even worse by becoming a victim of Hawk Moth. Plus, everything seemed so much easier here in this museum, with his best friend right by his side. (Well, several metres across the room zooming around at top speed. But close enough.) Alix was prepared to listen. For what seemed like the first time, someone actually wanted to hear what Nath had to say.

Staring at his sketchpad and refusing to look up, he launched into a rather incoherent, mangled version of the day’s events. From Marinette’s suspicious actions, to that secretly cruel and yet annoyingly cute hoodied writer in the park, to Nath losing his temper for once and flying right off the handle. It all sounded ridiculous now that he said it out loud. So much stress over something that probably wasn’t even a big deal! But to her credit, Alix paid attention and did not interrupt.

“Yeah, so that’s what happened,” Nath said finally, his rant over. He continued drawing on his sketchpad – he hadn’t even realized he was drawing Marc, and had half a mind to tear out the page and scrunch it up. Instead he started a new drawing, deciding that his rollerskating friend would make a good artistic subject, even if she wouldn’t stay still.

“Maybe you should have given him a chance to explain,” Alix suggested. It was slightly unnerving to hear her giving genuine advice, when usually any “advice” she offered on anything at all included murder. Nath slumped his shoulders, his mood still not improving.

“What’s the point? He wanted to tease me, like everybody else…”

Alix stopped right in front of him. “It can’t possibly be because of Marinette. It’s not like her to make fun of other people.”

Well of course she would defend Marinette. Nath knew those two hung out outside of school sometimes these days, now that the class tended to bond together more. He even knew about things she probably shouldn’t have told him – like a certain flower petal throwing adventure that was supposed to be kept a secret.

Maybe she had a point, actually. While it was easy to believe that Marc had tricked him, considering that Nath didn’t know him so well, Marinette never really did things like that. Her heart was kind. Standing up to Chloé, taking charge of the class, baking food for everyone, willingly making friends with Nath even when others paid no attention to him…

“Hmm… you think I jumped the gun a bit?” he asked, shame creeping up his insides. If it really was a misunderstanding, if Nath had done the wrong thing, Marinette and Marc were probably mad at him. And would Alix be mad at him too? His blood ran cold at the thought of his best friend ditching him over his thoughtless actions.

A familiar voice suddenly rang out from the entrance to the hall.

“Nathaniel!”

He turned to see Ladybug and Chat Noir there, clinging onto the edge of the wall, and Chat Noir was wrapped in a… a blanket?

“We need you, it’s an emergenc– AACK!–”

She tripped over onto the floor, knocking Chat Noir over in the process. Nath just stared. He was fairly certain he had never seen Ladybug _trip over thin air_ before. Maybe all of today had just been a bad dream, and nothing was real after all.

“Ughh… this is getting tiring…” Ladybug pulled herself to her feet with much more effort than usual, helped Chat Noir up and adjusted his blanket, then held her yoyo out at Nath and Alix. “You’d better take a look at this.”

Was there an akuma attack going on? What did that have to do with Nathaniel? He watched the yoyo screen blankly as Nadja Chamack, the news reporter, described some absurd over-the-top villainous plan involving space-garbage raining down onto the planet. Then the cameras turned to what was clearly the akuma villain, some kind of origami-based one from the looks of it, with a black and white hood and rather deep voice that gave Nath chills, both welcome and unwelcome ones.

_“Ladybug! Chat Noir! I command you to deliver Nathaniel and Marinette to me right now! I also demand that you hand over your Miraculous!”_

His heart was sinking. There was no doubt about it – that akuma villain, Reverser apparently, was none other than Marc Anciel. Alix had been right. It really had all been a misunderstanding after all. Nath had got someone _akumatized_.

“We have to try and talk to him,” Ladybug said, putting her yoyo away. “And we’re going to need you, Nathaniel.”

“What about Marinette?” Chat Noir asked. Ladybug’s eyes widened for a second, in a way that seemed incredibly familiar, but Nath couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“We don’t have time! Reverser will have to settle for just Nathaniel.”

Nath’s heart sank even further, and fear was setting in too. How had he managed to get himself into this mess? His reluctance to truly trust people was coming back to bite him. Being a shy loner was so easy, and yet made life so difficult! He really couldn’t stand himself sometimes. And clearly Marc couldn’t stand him either, now. Maybe no one could…

Still right beside him, Alix clenched her fists. “I’m coming with you.”

For a second Nath was not sure that he had heard right. Yes, Alix was always down to fight, but even she kept her distance from akuma attacks when they didn’t directly concern her. Why was she doing this?

Ladybug seemed to have the same thought. “No way! It’s too dangerous!”

“Actually,” Chat Noir piped up, curling in on himself slightly, “I’ll just stay here too... so I don’t get in the way…”

It was becoming clear that the superheroes were not themselves today. And Nath could guess why. With a villain name like “Reverser”, clearly these two had been “reversed”, just like the mayor on the news. Ladybug was being clumsy. Chat Noir was being cowardly. Alix seemed to have noticed too, and had a rather malicious grin on her face. Nath watched as she whispered “Boo!” in Chat’s ear, causing the poor kitty to leap into Ladybug’s arms in sheer terror, both heroes tumbling to the ground.

“It looks to me like you’re going to need a helping hand,” Alix said, standing over them with an arm out to help them up and looking incredibly smug.

“You can never get too much help!” Chat Noir scrambled to his feet as Alix helped up Ladybug, somehow managing to keep her balance despite being on skates.

Nathaniel still just watched, wondering if he should say something, but his mind was coming up blank. Why was he always so silent? Alix was here putting her life on the line to help out the heroes, and all Nath could do was slowly roast in the shame of having been the cause of an akuma, unable to do or say anything to help!

His thoughts were so loud and distracting that he almost didn’t hear what Alix said next, only the sudden fire in her voice pulling him away from the chaos in his brain.

“Nathaniel is my friend. I’m not dropping him.” She turned to give him an encouraging smile.

So that was why she was risking her safety to help? Not because she wanted to have an excuse to beat up an akuma villain, not for the glory… but for _him?_ Even after what he had done today?

It wasn’t an act, he had heard quite clearly how sincere she was. Alix didn’t tend to lie about things or hide the way she was feeling, like Nath himself did so often. She really meant what she said.

That they were best friends, and that she would support him no matter what.

Relief flooded through Nathaniel, his ice-cold veins warming back up, his worries beginning to melt away. Of course his best friend wasn’t going to abandon him, of course she wasn’t going to be mad at him for making a mistake. She cared! That was why he had confided in her, after all. He had made the right choice when he had decided to trust her.

He smiled back, half wishing he could think of something to say, half knowing that words weren’t needed.

“Reverser is at the Eiffel Tower,” Ladybug was saying, her face determined. “Let’s go right away…”

He quickly followed, his spirits lifting. Maybe today hadn’t been all bad after all.

 

 

Naturally, tempting fate was far too easy. Actually standing at the foot of the Eiffel Tower a short while later, watching Ladybug barter with Reverser for Nath’s life, his legs were turning to jelly again. He clutched the bamboo rods – Ladybug’s Lucky Charm item, though who knew what she was going to do with it – and tried not to shake as he stared up at that aggressive, terrifying villain who had even managed to bring the city’s superheroes to their knees.

This was his fault – this was _his fault, this was his fault…_

Hearing Reverser saying his name jolted him out of his thoughts.

“I’ll only reverse the mayor back if I have Chat Noir _and_ Nathaniel! Then I’ll reverse Nathaniel, and he’ll have no choice but to make a comic book with me!”

Overwhelmed with guilt, Nath hid his blushing face behind the bamboo rods. Did Marc really want to make a comic with Nath so badly? Nath hadn’t even realized that Marc thought so highly of him. The thought gave his innards a rather funny twist, which he decided to ignore for now.

“Okay!” Ladybug boomed through the traffic cone she was holding up. Nath did a double take – was Ladybug actually going to just sacrifice him like that?!

Then she put the traffic cone down and gave them all a wink, leading them over to the lift.

“I have a plan. Nathaniel, when you’re in the lift, use Chat’s blanket and the bamboo rods to make a kite, and tie him onto it with my yoyo. At the top, Chat will leap off the tower, dropping the yoyo back down here, and Alix can use it to control the kite. Chat, you then use your Cataclysm on Reverser’s hoverboard when the kite gets close enough. You got that?”

Stepping into the lift, Chat Noir hugged his blanket a little closer. “My lady, I’m too scared…”

“And I don’t want to be reversed!” Nath added. Was there a better way to do this? He wasn’t sure he could count on this scaredy-chat right now, even if Ladybug could.

“You have to trust me,” Ladybug said, handing him the yoyo. “This is going to work.”

Something about this inspirational superhero giving him such a warm smile did put him at ease a little. What really gave him strength, however, was that Alix didn’t look afraid at all. She was prepared to take part in this admittedly kind of ridiculous plan, and wasn’t even scared! Or if she was, she was good at hiding it.

Ignoring the muffled voices of Ladybug and Reverser outside, Nath assembled the kite and tied Chat Noir onto it, blindfolding him for good measure so that he wouldn’t get cold feet when he saw the drop.

The doors opened at the top. Nath gave Chat Noir the signal, then watched the unbelievable sight of Chat running off the tower and flying through the sky attached to a kite, terrified out of his wits.

Well… stupider things had happened in Paris before. Like when Nino got akumatized and put all the adults into bubbles. Or that giant baby? Yeah, that one had been really weird. All in all, Chat Noir flying around on a kite was not all that unusual.

The yoyo fell to the ground and Alix caught it. She was so tiny that she was barely visible from up here, but Nath was instantly filled with a huge sense of _pride_ – that was his best friend right there, helping to save the day! As afraid as he still was that Reverser would attack him, or that Marc would never forgive him, or of the space trash that was heading towards the earth, all the crazy stuff that was happening… he was so proud.

It was only just hitting him how much he cared, and how grateful he was to finally have a close friend, after years of watching from the sidelines and yearning for one. Alix was saving his skin right now. Not even because she needed to – just because she _wanted_ to.

The rest was a blur, and anyway, it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen Ladybug and Chat Noir defeat villains before. The difference was that this time, when Ladybug threw her Lucky Charm object into the air to heal the damage, Alix did so too. Nath couldn’t stop a giant grin spreading over his face. His best friend was a hero! An actual hero! How cool was that?!

He barely just waited for Mayor Bourgeois to get into the lift before pressing the ground button and wishing it would hurry up. The day was saved, the villain was defeated, the heroes were back to normal, and he just had to go talk to Alix as soon as possible!

The doors opened, he got out, restrained himself enough to walk rather than run, and–

Oh.

_Marc._

They caught each other’s eye, and Nath quickly turned away, his heart skipping a beat. In his haste, he had forgotten what had caused this all in the first place. Did Marc hate him now?

“Marc and Nathaniel?” Ladybug walked over and put a hand on each of their shoulders, turning them towards each other. “By now you realize there was a big misunderstanding. But if you give each other a chance, I’m sure you’ll find out how well you can work together.”

Nath allowed himself to look up slightly. Ladybug’s soothing, wise words would always comfort him, that was why he drew comics about her in the first place.

Marc looked just as nervous – even more so, in fact. It reminded Nath that for once, he was not the shyest person here. Maybe making a comic book with Marc would be… fun.

He put on a friendly smile, hoping it didn’t look fake, and held out his hand for a handshake. To his relief, Marc gave him a rather sweet smile in return.

And then, very gently, he placed his hand over Nath’s.

Nathaniel had been expecting a handshake. That was what you did when someone held out their hand like that! What was Marc doing?? And why was it suddenly making him feel all… all… oh… ohhhh no. Surely not. Now was _not_ the time for feelings like these to be bubbling up, feelings Nath had shoved down deep inside after the Evillustrator fiasco. Not right now. Nope.

Ladybug and Chat Noir had already done their fist bump and were making their exit. Nath tried very hard not to look at Marc’s gloved hand resting in his own, those painted nails, and cleared his throat.

“Uh… Marc?”

His heart gave a nervous leap as Marc lifted his eyes to meet his.

“Listen… I’m sorry for what I did earlier. I shouldn’t have treated you like that. If you still want to make a comic book with me though, I’ll do it. I love your ideas, they’re really good!”

Marc’s face was turning red, and his smile widened. “Thank you Nathaniel, that sounds like fun – I mean – I – can we meet up in art club then? I – I have to g-go…”

“Sure. See you around.”

Marc gave his hand a squeeze, then ran off. Nath took a few moments to compose himself. Then he turned to see Alix giving him a very pointed look, her arms folded.

“Dude, is it me or were you and Marc just–”

“Not now!” Nath insisted. “Just… don’t. Don’t say it.” He let himself chuckle nervously, running a hand through his hair. Alix was right, but thinking about Marc like that was all kinds of new, and right now he had other things on his mind.

“Alright, fine,” Alix said, a knowing grin on her face.

“By the way, did you know you’re the coolest person in the universe?”

“What?”

Nath revelled in the shocked look on her face, and pulled her into a hug. “You were a hero! You saved me! You… you helped Ladybug, and…”

“Of course I did!” she laughed. “I didn’t want you to be reversed.”

“What have I done to deserve you?”

“Been my friend, duh.”

He hugged her even tighter. “Thank you for saving me. And the rest of Paris. You’re amazing. You don’t even have superpowers and you…”

“Well what about you? Going up to the top of the Eiffel Tower with Chat Noir even though Reverser was up there?”

“Only because I had to, but you didn’t have to do any of that, you just did it anyway. Because you’re amazing. You’re the greatest friend ever.”

“Well so are you!”

Nath finally let go, the events from earlier seeping back into his brain. “No, I’m a jerk… I lost my temper with Marc and made him upset.”

“But you apologized and made it up to him,” Alix said, giving him a gentle punch in the arm. “And honestly, as someone who loses her temper way more than she should, I get it.”

“I kind of wanted to be more like you,” Nath admitted. “You’re always so free with your thoughts and feelings. I guess I forgot how much trouble it gets you in.”

“Yeah. The important thing is not to hurt people’s feelings, even when you’re annoyed.”

She was right. Nath knew he had to act more balanced than he had been earlier today. Alix did too, probably. Perhaps their friendship, as odd and unlikely as it was, was good for them.

“So,” he said, leaning his elbow on her head like the convenient armrest she was, “can we go back to the Louvre? I have a new akuma villain to draw.”

“Of course we can – I’ll race you!”

She ran off without waiting. Nath couldn’t beat her, even with his longer strides, but he didn’t care. His friend was the freaking _coolest_ , and now she had proved it in front of all of Paris. Surely he was the luckiest guy in the world to have a best friend like her.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Over the following weeks, Alix noticed a difference. While her classmates remained roughly the same, kids from other classes were treating her with a newfound sense of awe. Was it because of the Reverser thing? While it was pretty awesome, it was weird, too. She _got_ now why superheroes kept their identities a secret. No one wanted to be gawked at wherever they went.

Nathaniel had been working hard on his new comic with Marc, and the finished result was a lot of fun to read. The improvement in storytelling was clear with Marc as the writer – not that Nath was bad at telling stories, just that he was… less good. Of course, his incredible artwork more than made up for that.

She noticed how close they were getting too. Despite being aro, it usually wasn’t hard to tell when her friends were into people. Such realizations were often accompanied by a sinking feeling, a feeling of _oh, so they’re not like me after all_. Disappointment, of all things.

For once, though, all she really felt was amusement.

“Do you think Marc likes me?” Nath asked one evening, staring into the eyes of the Mona Lisa and clutching his sketchpad to his chest. That dreamy look on his face was not even remotely subtle.

“Listen,” Alix said, “no one who dresses like that and has the name _Marc Anciel_ is straight. He definitely likes you.”

Nath looked down at the floor. “Nah, he’s just… he’s shy. He gets nervous around people. Even me. That’s why he blushes and stutters and…”

“…and acts like how Marinette does around Adrien, yeah. He’s into you big time. So just ask to draw him like one of your French girls already.”

“What? N-no, I just… I don’t want to talk about it. Not right now.”

It was always that. Nath never wanted to talk about it. Alix wondered if he was purposely avoiding the subject with her because he knew she was aro, and therefore didn’t exactly relate. Or perhaps he was unsure about making a move on someone other than a girl. Or making a move in general. Nath was a pretty shy person most of the time.

 

 

Alya cornered them one afternoon at the end of the school day in the locker rooms, her phone out and ready for a scoop. She had that determined look on her face – the one that she got whenever she was reporting for the Ladyblog.

“Yo Alix, Nathaniel, I have a question for you,” she said, smirking. “You guys hang out like all the time these days. Are you… you know…”

“Cousins?” Alix suggested. “Nope, as far as I know this quiet tomato bean isn’t related to me.”

“I was going to say _dating_ , actually.”

Ew – was that what people thought?! Seriously???

“Even less likely,” Alix said, slamming her locker shut. “Nath’s my best friend.”

Alya turned to Nath and raised her eyebrows. “Is that true?”

He nodded. “Yeah. We’re best friends.”

“Mmm, okay…”

Alya just shrugged and walked away. The others in the locker room seemed to have been listening in on the conversation, having stopped talking, various expressions on their faces. Alix rolled her eyes and picked up her bag. Honestly, a guy and a girl being close friends didn’t mean they were dating, it meant that they were close friends! Which, in her opinion, was far better!

Chloé’s loud, grating voice rang out through the room.

“Oh come on, everyone knows you’re just covering it up! Alix always likes to act all tough, she just doesn’t want to admit that she’s got with someone as lame as Nathaniel…”

“Chloé, I will yeet you off the roof for real this time,” Alix snapped.

“How very tsundere of you.”

“Shut up. Nathaniel isn’t lame, and why would I date him when I can be his best friend instead?” She grabbed his arm. “Come on Nath, let’s get out of here…”

“Yes, go to your precious museum, you two!”

Alix just ignored her and dragged Nathaniel away. Chloé was always annoying, but somehow this was so much more annoying than usual. Maybe if she just told everyone she was aro, then… but no, they’d never believe her. They’d just think she was saying it to be “tsundere”, wouldn’t they? Facing ridicule and disbelief when coming out was just an aro rite-of-passage.

“Alix, are you okay?”

She turned to see Nath frowning at her in concern, and slowed down her pace a little.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she lied.

“You sure?”

She hesitated. Seeing Nath worrying about her always hurt. She didn’t want to burden him with her problems, especially when he was already an anxious sort of person in general! But they were so close at this point, she just wanted to tell him everything. He had proven himself a trustworthy friend time and time again.

“I wish I could tell everyone I’m aro,” she admitted, lowering her voice and clinging onto his arm a little tighter.

“Well, why don’t you? You’re so fearless! You can tell them anything!”

Fearlessness was an act. No one was truly fearless. And if they were, then they were stupid. Some things were bound to have bad outcomes, whether you wanted them to or not.

“I… I can’t.” She shook her head. “They’ll pity me, or they won’t believe me, or they’ll think there’s something wrong with me, or… look, not everyone will be as nice as you were. Even if they try to be, they won’t. Not truly. They’ll feel sorry for me. Because romantic shit is just so _great_ and _special_ to everyone, isn’t it?”

She hadn’t meant to sound so bitter. But she had witnessed it over and over, Marinette bemoaning her hopeless crush on Adrien, Rose gushing about how true love could fix anything, Kim ignoring all of Chloé's flaws due to a blinding crush on her, Ivan’s entire personality changing around Mylène…

Her classmates cared about romance. They cared a heck of a lot. That, they had made very, very clear.

“Alix?” Nath’s voice was rather quiet. “You sound like you’ve… had a bad experience or something…”

He knew her too well, didn’t he? There was no point holding back. She may as well tell him everything.

“My dad didn’t take it well when I told him,” she said. “I thought that he of all people might at least _try_ to understand. But he didn’t. Though I guess I did have Jalil as a shoulder to cry on, so it could have been worse.”

Nathaniel, despite not being a hugging type, was very free with the hugs lately, and right now he gave her another one. “That must have sucked…”

“Yeah. So uh, I’m not super keen on coming out to anyone else for the moment.”

“Fair enough.”

“But like… I know it’s annoying that people are thinking we’re a couple, but you won’t stop hanging out with me, will you?”

As soon as she said it she wanted to smack herself over the head. Way to sound clingy! But Nath didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Of course I won’t stop hanging out with you! Not for anything.”

“Thanks.” She beamed at him, already more cheerful. “For the record, I know you’re not aro, so if there is anyone you have a crush on, anyone in particular, you know… I can always help you out with that…” She winked at him.

“I’ll keep it in mind,” he said, smiling in return, before continuing their walk to the Louvre.

He knew she meant Marc, right? Had she made that clear enough?

 

 

 

 

A few weeks later finally proved her suspicions right. Nath hammered away on the door at the Louvre, ignoring the security guards glaring at him. “Hey Alix? Are you there? I really really need your help, it’s urgent!”

She opened the door. “Dude, you can be a little quieter you know–”

“I just asked Marc to go to the zoo with me and I don’t know why I did that and I am flipping the _fuck out_ right now!”

He pushed past her into the room, pacing around running his hands through his bright red hair in anguish. Alix didn’t reply for a second, far too amused at Nath’s uncharacteristic swearing to even register what he was saying. Right, so he had asked Marc to the zoo…

“You mean like a date?” she asked.

“I don’t know! I just suggested we go there, and he started blushing and said yes, and now I have to meet him there later and… oh god, this is a date. I can’t do this.” He slumped down on one of the chairs. “I need your help.”

“Are you sure I’m the right person you should be asking for help?”

“No, of course not. But…” Nath blushed. “I don’t really want to tell anyone else that I… y’know… like Marc. And anyway, since you’re aro, you’ll be objective and everything. If I’m being a lovestruck idiot, you’ll say so.”

Alix grinned. “So you _do_ like Marc.”

“Yeah, but don’t tell anyone!”

“I won’t. Anyway, it’ll be fun being wing-girl. Want me to go get the flower petals?”

“No no no, no flower petals! This isn’t one of Marinette’s crazy schemes. I just want to have a nice outing with Marc at the zoo, without messing up, so you can keep the flower petals well away, thanks.”

“Fine, what do you need me to do then?”

“Uh…” Nath was silent for a few seconds. “Do you have any advice? Like, what should I wear?”

“What you’re wearing right now I guess.”

“Are you sure? Should I wear something fancy?”

“Dude. It’s the zoo. And we all wear the same exact thing every day anyway.”

He nodded. “You’re right, you’re right… Should I buy him chocolates or something? Or flowers?”

Alix wracked her brains for all the stupid romantic nonsense she’d watched in TV shows and movies. “Buy an ice cream with him while you guys are there, and share it.”

“But that’s not romantic, I did that with you the other day!”

“Oh… oh yeah. That’s because romance is a cultural concept and is relative in different situations based on intent and context.”

He frowned. “Right now I’m freaking out a bit too much to understand any of what you said.”

“Listen, just be yourself! Marc already likes you for who you are. You don’t need to worry so much.”

“Yeah…” He clenched his fists, a look of determination on his face. “I can do this. I just have to be myself except not get him akumatized.”

“Oh, and don’t challenge the panther to a race. Trust me on that one.”

“Uh… sure.” He gave her a quick hug. “Thanks Alix! I’m gonna go get ready now, and I don’t want to be late – see you later!” He ran off.

“Good luck!” Alix called after him. “Let me know how it goes!”

So, Nathaniel and Marc were finally getting together. About time! As much as the concept of romance was rather arbitrary and highly annoying, Alix knew for a fact that some couples were cuter than others. She had been wanting those two idiots to get together for a while now.

Still, it was strange. She sat down on her bed and absent-mindedly started playing Ladybug Run on her phone, not really concentrating.

Nath liked Marc a lot, that was obvious. And yet he seemed so much more nervous around him! That was a sign of a crush, apparently. Being nervous around the person you liked. But wasn’t that a bad thing? Why would you want to be with someone who made you feel nervous? Who made you stutter and blush like a total fool? It was so counterintuitive.

No wonder for so long Alix had thought it was a con, some trick that the whole world was in on except for her. She’d been sure crushes weren’t real, and people just made them up to sound more grown up. To act more mature than they really were. (Especially the whole baby-making side of things, that was so gross it just _couldn’t_ be real.)

She still remembered the day Jalil had found out he was red-green colour-blind. He had been so used to seeing the world the way he did and assuming it was normal, only to discover that everyone else was going through life on some other level entirely. Perhaps being aroace was something like that too. She just saw the world differently, through this lens of not being attracted to people in that odd, fairy-tale way.

And now Nathaniel was on a date with Marc…

As much as Alix tried to ignore it, there was that nagging worry deep inside.

_Nath cares about Marc more than you. Because everyone knows that romance is considered more important than friendship._

No, of course that wasn’t true. For starters, even if Nath did care more about Marc, that was _fine!_ It was his life, he could live it the way he wanted to. Anyway, Nath still cared about her. He loved her and appreciated her. That was the important thing.

 

She wasn’t sure how long it had been when her phone began ringing, interrupting her current game. Usually she would have yelled at whoever was on the other end, but this time it was Nath.

“Nath! How was your date?”

“It was awesome!” he screeched, much louder than usual. “Guess what guess what guess what? I have a boyfriend now!”

“Dude, that’s awesome! Go you!”

“Yeah! Marc is such a sweetie… I mean, I could probably tell more people, he doesn’t mind, but um… I think I’ll keep it down low for now. So don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t, I promise.”

“Thanks. Hey, do you want to come to the zoo now? We can hang out here for once!”

“Are you sure?” she asked. “Is Marc still with you?”

“No, he’s gone, he’s too nervous to be in public for long. But you can always join me if you want. I missed you.”

Alix was not sure she’d heard correctly. “You… missed me?”

“I think I’m just so used to spending all my free time with you that when I’m not with you, it’s like I’m missing something.” He giggled. “Sorry, that sounded cheesy, I’m in a cheesy mood. Anyways, I miss my amazing best friend and it would be super cool if she joined me at this zoo.”

Wow, Nath really cared about her that much, didn’t he? She didn’t even know why she had doubted him. “Sure, I’ll be there soon!”

“Awesome! I’ll go buy an ice cream in preparation, see you soon!”

Sharing an ice cream with Nath? That sounded awesome. She pulled on her helmet and skates, ready to set off as quick as possible. Her best friend was waiting for her.

 

 

 

The summer holidays drew closer over the next few weeks. The thought of going to a different lycée than Nathaniel next year was starting to weigh on Alix’s mind. Sure, she’d miss all her friends who didn’t end up in the same place as her, but she’d never really had a friend like this. It hurt more than she’d realized.

In retaliation, she spent even more time with him than before. Now that Jalil was busy with exams, the Louvre felt so empty without anyone else there to hang out with. There were barely even any tourists there outside peak hours! Frequent akuma attacks had really taken their toll on Paris, once the most popular tourist destination in the world. Now the city was some kind of bleak hellscape, with apathetic civilians waiting for the next victim to fall.

 

 “Are you sure about this?” Alix asked Nath, who was looking far less comfortable standing on a wobbly skateboard than he had been when he originally suggested trying this out.

“Um… yes.” He grabbed her hand and held on so tightly it almost cut off circulation to her fingers. “Rollerskates may not be my thing, but I want to get good at _something_ cool.”

“Because you wanna impress Marc.”

“Well yeah, but I want to impress you too!”

“Pfffff, you’re already cool. You draw comics and you’re my best friend, so that’s infinitely cooler than skateboarding.”

“You’re just being nice…”

He flinched as there was a loud thud behind them. They turned to see that what looked like an akuma villain had just landed in the square outside the Louvre. Most of the tourists were barely even startled – akuma attacks were just commonplace at this point. This particular akuma seemed to have skin, clothes and hair all the colour of marble, as if he was an ancient statue come to life.

“I am Adonis!” he boomed, running a hand through his curly hair and puffing his chest out. “Tell me, have any of you seen Mina?”

No one answered, and the villain suddenly scowled and zapped the nearest tourist with his finger. The tourist’s eyes went pink and they immediately began swooning over him, reminiscent of the effects of Zombizou’s lipstick such a long time ago.

“Will you help me now?” Adonis asked the tourist, who nodded eagerly.

“Anything for you, my one true love!”

“That’s better. Go find Mina and bring her to me. She _will_ be mine. And as for the rest of you, I’ll make you all fall in love with me too! I’ll prove her wrong! Everyone will love me, and she’ll see what a fool she was for turning me down!”

He cackled evilly and began zapping everyone in sight. The remaining tourists now began hurrying away, though most were unlucky enough to be caught and transformed into pink-eyed lovesick servants. Just another day in the life of a Parisian, really.

“We’d better get out of here,” Nath muttered, hopping off the skateboard immediately.

“Yep.” Alix picked up the skateboard and tucked it under her arm. “I’m really not in the mood for being brainwashed by some akumatized yandere fuckboy incel, I hope Ladybug and Chat Noir turn up soon and – hey, look out!”

She pulled Nath aside just in time to avoid a shot. Unfortunately Adonis noticed, and leapt over to them at terrifying speed, backing them up against the side of the pyramid with no escape.

“Trying to run away, are we?” he sneered. “You aren’t really trying to resist my charms, surely? You’ll see how wonderful I am. You just need a little _persuasion_. Let’s get the gay artist first, shall we?”

Smirking, he aimed a shot at Nathaniel. Alix tried to pull him away again, but this time the shot hit. Within a few seconds Nath’s eyes had turned a pinkish hue, turning to gaze at Adonis in complete admiration, his face covered in a blush.

“Will you do anything for me?” Adonis asked.

“Of course!” Nath stumbled forwards, a dopey smile spreading over his face. “I love you!”

Alix grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “Dude, what about Marc?”

“Marc who?”

“Your boyfriend, that’s who!”

“My only boyfriend is Adonis,” Nath sighed dreamily, before shaking his arm out of her grasp and heading towards Adonis again.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…”

“He’s not kidding,” Adonis said, hands on his hips in triumph. “Your friend is now in love with me, as everyone should be, especially Mina. And you’re next!”

Alix barely had time to move before Adonis had zapped her right in the face. She waited a few seconds, expecting the worst, wondering if she would remember any of this once Ladybug and Chat Noir had saved the day, or if her memories would be intact…

But nothing happened.

She blinked a few times, looking around at everything. Hm, no pink-vision. Nothing looked unusual. Adonis looked pretty much the same. She didn’t feel any different, either. No compulsion to start acting as sappy as Nath was currently being.

“Um… was that supposed to do something?” she asked.

“What?!” Adonis glared at her, his hands clenching into fists. “Why didn’t my powers work on you?”

“Because I have pink hair so I’m clearly an anime protagonist with special powers?”

He zapped her again, but nothing changed. And again, and again, and again.

This… this was _great_. Was she really so aro that even a romance akuma just simply couldn’t affect her? Maybe being aromantic wasn’t all doom and gloom after all.

“Why isn’t this working?!” Adonis screeched.

Alix yawned. “Maybe you’re just not as hot as you think you are, and your precious Mina turned you down for a reason.”

“Shut up! You don’t understand anything! Mina was just being selfish and ungrateful, I’ve been her friend for so long and yet she rejected me, I–”

“You sound like a real douchebag, dude.”

Adonis put a hand up to his temple frowning. “Hey Hawk Moth? Why won’t my powers work on this annoying tiny gremlin?... What do you mean, you don’t know? You’re supposed to know these things!... No, I zapped her a million times, but she’s just standing here…”

Alix took a deep breath. “Adonis, I’m immune to your powers, and it’s because I’m _aromantic_.”

“The fuck does that mean, snowflake?”

Ugh, this guy was _really_ starting to annoy her. “It means I’ve never fallen in love, and I’m not about to start now. So square up bitch! You’re about to catch these aro hands.”

He took a quick leap backwards. “I don’t have time for this. Gay artist, stop her! Fight her or something! I have to go find Mina and go get the Miraculouses.” With that, he leapt off at ferocious speeds. Nath immediately lurched forwards like a zombie.

“Nath, it’s me, your friend! Snap out of it!” Alix gave him a shove, but he pouted and aimed a hefty swing at her.

“You’re no friend of mine! Adonis said so!”

“You’ve literally never met Adonis before in your life–”

“Yeah well it’s love at first sight!”

Alix rolled her eyes. “Seriously Nath, please snap out of it! I don’t wanna fight you. You’re so scrawny and pathetic. You’ll be tomato puree in like two minutes.”

“An honourable sacrifice for my one true love!”

“Is he really more important to you than I am?” Alix tried so very hard not to feel too hurt, knowing that it wasn’t Nath’s fault that he was under the influence of an akuma villain. “He used magic on you to force you to like him, and… and anyway, I know most people think romance is more important than friendship, but… I thought… you…”

Nath hesitated, frowning. “Friendship?”

Was this working? “Yes, friendship! You’re my best friend, remember? That’s just as important! You don’t want to fight your best friend, do you?”

“I…”

He was suddenly hit in the head with a flying fire extinguisher, knocking him to the ground. Alix looked up to see that her classmate, Alya, was the one who had thrown it, and was now rushing over with her phone in hand.

“Alix! I saw the whole thing, that was super _amazing_ –”

“Were you streaming all that to the Ladyblog?” Alix asked right away.

“Yeah, some of it,” Alya admitted. “Up until I threw that thing at Nath to stop him fighting you.”

“So does the entirety of Paris now know that I’m aro?”

“Uh… yeah.”

Alix crossed her arms, kicking the fire extinguisher. That certainly wasn’t how she had wanted to come out to anyone.

“But at least they know for certain you’re not lying!” Alya said hastily, putting a rather nervous smile on her face. “Adonis’s powers didn’t work on you, right? That’s proof right there! None of that ‘too young to know’ shit that I know you probably get.”

The fact that Alya seemed to be aware of common aro misconceptions didn’t do much to lift Alix’s spirits. “I didn’t want it to be like this. I’m ace too, by the way. I guess at this point I may as well say it.”

“I, uh, kinda guessed. You made it pretty clear with your horrified reactions in biology class that one time.”

“Whatever.”

Alya dropped her smile, putting a hand on Alix’s shoulder. “Look, I’m sorry for streaming all that. I didn’t realize you were gonna say you were aro, I just thought it was cool that you were standing up to an akuma villain, and you know I record everything anyway. And then you came out, and I should have stopped rolling the cameras, but it was too late anyway and I thought maybe if I let you explain what it meant then that would be better for anyone watching…”

“It’s okay,” Alix said, shrugging. “I’m not blaming you. I’m gonna blame Adonis, for being an annoying fuckboy who can’t take no for an answer. And Hawk Moth for giving him really creepy powers.”

“Speaking of Adonis, he didn’t manage to zap me, and his powers don’t work on you, so should we go find him and try to stall him? At least long enough for Ladybug and Chat Noir to get there?”

Fighting an akuma villain? That certainly seemed better than fighting poor Nathaniel, who was still lying there knocked out cold. And Alix certainly did want to punch Adonis in that stupid smug face of his.

“Maybe you should stay here though,” Alix suggested. “If he zaps you and tells you to fight me…”

“What? No, I can do it! I won’t get zapped, I’m not afraid!”

“I’m not taking any chances.” Alix bent down to take Nath’s helmet off his head, quickly plonked it over her own head, then hopped onto the skateboard and zoomed off before Alya could protest further.

 

 

Adonis seemed to have tracked down Mina not too far away, according to the reports on the Ladyblog forums. Alix was not very accustomed to skateboarding but it was the quickest way to get there for now, and she managed to reach the street without too many scrapes. Rollerskates were way better than this, seriously.

“Mina, my love, there you are!” Adonis was saying, walking towards the poor girl with arms outstretched.

“What? Who are you?”

“Don’t you recognize me?”

“No, I… wait a second – _Donny???”_

“Yes, but even better! I’m Adonis now, much more perfect in every possible way. Surely now you can’t resist me?”

Mina was looking incredibly unimpressed, shaking her head. “Did you seriously get akumatized just because I didn’t wanna go out with you? I said I still wanted to be your friend!”

“But what if I didn’t want to be your friend, huh? What if I wanted something else? Did you ever think about that?” He pulled a shiny marble ring off his finger and held it out at her. “I bought this ring for you on the first day I met you, wanting to give it to you as a token of my love. Please accept it, Mina.”

“Look Donny, I’m not interested, and anyway I’m not dating an akuma villain, that’s just weird…”

Alix glanced at her watch. Were Ladybug and Chat Noir going to turn up or what? She didn’t have superpowers, and as much as she was up for fighting a supervillain with her fists alone, it would be easier with some help.

“You’re just selfish!” Adonis was saying now, having put the ring back on his finger. “You don’t know what’s good for you! I didn’t want to have to resort to using my powers, but you leave me no choice.”

Yikes, he was about to use his love powers on the girl he actually liked – that was definitely too creepy for words. Never mind waiting for Ladybug and Chat Noir. Adonis needed to be stopped _now_.

Kicking off on the skateboard, she took off the helmet and threw it at Adonis as hard as she could. He turned around, his already unhappy expression changing to downright furious when he spotted her.

“You again! I thought I told that gay artist to beat you up!”

She came to a halt between him and Mina. “First of all he’s actually pan, and second of all the combined power of friendship and fire extinguishers is more powerful than romance, you twat. Oh, and Mina, you might wanna run while I take care of this creep.”

Mina nodded and stormed off. Adonis brandished his fists, taking a step forward. “I’m still much stronger than you! My powers may not work but I could easily take you on in a fight.”

That much was true, but Alix tried to ignore it. “You really think so, punk?”

“Yeah, I do. You’re, what, 4’7?”

“Um actually I’m 4’8 so shut the fuck up.”

He laughed, that cold, cruel laugh that so many akuma villains seemed to have. “It doesn’t matter. Your blood will look real pretty staining the ground when I’ve ripped all your limbs off.”

“Wow, that’s super romantic, buddy. Mina doesn’t know what she’s missing.”

“Oh, I’ve had it with you! Enough!”

Adonis lunged forwards. Something suddenly dropped from the sky and knocked him aside – and the next second Ladybug herself had jumped down from the rooftops, retracting her yoyo and landing just in front of Alix. Chat Noir dropped down too a moment later.

“Looks like we made it just in time!” Ladybug said. “Alix, are you alright? We saw the Ladyblog–”

“I’m fine,” she said quickly. “But just be careful with Adonis, if he zaps you then you’ll be in love with him and…”

“There’s no one I could ever love more than my lady,” Chat said, winking at Ladybug, but she rolled her eyes.

“No time for that right now, kitty. Let’s defeat Adonis first.”

The two heroes turned back to face Adonis, weapons barred. He stood up and brushed himself off.

“I think his akuma is in his ring,” Alix said.

“Thanks for the help! You should probably get to safety now, and we’ll take it from here. _Lucky Charm!”_

Alix pushed off on the skateboard again until she was a fair distance down the street, watching the heroes battling from afar. The helmet was still over by Adonis’s feet, and some part of her rebelled strongly at skateboarding without a helmet on. Huh, maybe Jalil had been a bigger influence on her than she thought. Helmets were cool. Safety was cool.

She watched as Ladybug sprayed her Lucky Charm item on a rather grotty nearby window, grabbing Adonis’s scarf to wipe the window clean, tricking him into zapping his own reflection and being too lovestruck to notice when she took his ring and purified the akuma from it. Seeing akuma villains being defeated was something that Alix was used to at this point. Somehow it didn’t even seem all that special anymore, just a normal part of life.

Ladybug and Chat Noir did their usual fist bump, then left the premises, leaving the akuma victim sitting in the street scratching his head, wondering what on earth had just happened. Alix watched with glee as Mina walked out from her hiding place and slapped Donny right across the face – damn, that was good to see.

“Alix! Did I miss it?”

She turned around to see Alya running over, out of breath.

“Yeah, you missed it,” she said. “Ladybug and Chat Noir just left.”

“Aw, I wanted more footage for the Ladyblog…”

The thought of the Ladyblog reminded Alix of what she certainly didn’t want to think about right now – the fact that pretty much everyone in Paris would now know that she was aro, and who even knew what they’d think of it. At least when she had come out to Nath, it was because she had wanted to…

Wait! Nath!

“I have to go,” Alix said, skateboarding off without even bothering to go get her helmet.

“Wait, where are you going?!”

“The Louvre! I have to see if Nathaniel’s okay!”

 

She arrived to see Nath sat on the ground by the entrance, frantically scrolling through something on his phone. As soon as he saw her he leapt up and swept her right off her feet in a hug, a relieved smile breaking onto his face. “Alix, there you are! I just saw what happened on the Ladyblog…”

“How bad are the comments?” she asked, bracing herself for the worst.

“I don’t know, I didn’t look. I hate looking at Ladyblog comments.” He put her down and took a look at his phone again, though he kept a protective arm around her shoulders. “There are new messages on the class group chat too, but I haven’t looked at those either.”

When Alix had been thinking about all of Paris seeing what was on the Ladyblog, her mind had mostly been going straight to her father, wondering what he would say about her going public and how she would possibly avoid getting grounded for life. The fact that her own _classmates_ , the people who she saw at school every day, would have seen that video too…

“Let’s just get it over with,” she muttered, taking her own phone out of her pocket and opening it up. Sure enough, there were a bunch of new messages from the class chat.

**_Rose:_ ** _alix!!!!!! i’m so proud of you!!! i just saw the thing on the ladyblog skjhdkfhglksdjfh you were so COOL???? you’re the opposite of me, i thought adonis was rly hot LOL!! <3_

**_Alya:_ ** _guys, i didn’t mean for everyone to know about this. i was just filming akuma footage like usual and alix didn’t know i was streaming or probably she wouldn’t have said it. maybe don’t make a big deal of things, yeah?_

**_Rose:_ ** _ahhhhh sorry! >_< i hope you’re all okay!! xx_

**_Juleka:_ ** _is this a good time to say i’m a lesbian?_

**_Alya:_ ** _we know, jules_

**_Alya:_ ** _but since we’re all going for it i guess i’ll just say it. i’m bi_

**_Rose:_ ** _were we not supposed to know that already? O_o_

**_Kim:_ ** _i’m bi too! *high five*_

**_Rose:_ ** _were we not supposed to know that either??? (_ _ノ_ _゜_ _Д_ _゜)_ _ノ_ _︵_ _┻━┻_

**_Mylène:_ ** _at school tomorrow, i’m giving all of you the BIGGEST hugs. y’all are brave <3_

**_Chloé:_ ** _don’t get what’s so brave about alix admitting she’s heartless. we knew that already. didn’t she throw a temper tantrum and murder everyone when her watch broke? i’m not surprised._

**_Rose:_ ** _ <:O_

**_Alya:_ ** _Chloe Bourgeois,,, i’m going to Break Your Face,,,,,,_

**_Chloé:_ ** _what? she admitted it herself. even akuma magic can’t make her care about people. and you all call ME heartless, really._

**_Mylène:_ ** _chloe stop it_

**_Kim:_ ** _AHEM. as the Official Dark Cupid, i would like to make a statement_

**_Kim:_ ** _chloe has no friends and doesn’t love anyone except herself, so therefore by science evidence we can make the hypocrates that she is heartless_

**_Chloé:_ ** _kim, sweetie, you don’t even understand half the words you’re saying, do you?_

**_Kim:_ ** _wHEREAS alix is cool, and also nice, and also has friends and is a good person, therefore scientifically she can’t be heartless, check. mate._

**_Chloé:_ ** _whatever. you’re all just humouring her because you’re scared of her, don’t pretend you’re not._

**_Kim:_ ** _excuse me i’m not scared of anyone??_

**_Kim:_ ** _anyways she’s the coolest now. never been in love with anyone?? akuma powers don’t even work on her?? i gotta say being aro just seems like the coolest thing ever, or it would be if there weren’t chloes around to make people feel bad about it >:C_

**_Marinette:_ ** _ahh i only just saw the ladyblog just now! alix, you were super brave to stand up to an akuma villain like that and i hope everyone will accept you, i certainly will! *hugs* and chloe, can you stop being yourself for like one singular second at least?? please??_

**_Adrien:_ ** _i only just saw the ladyblog too, and same marinette!^_

**_Chloé:_ ** _ughhhhh fine. sorry alix. you’ll be alone forever and i pity you._

**_Adrien:_ ** _chlo…_

**_Chloé:_ ** _i said i’m sorry, didn’t i? look i don’t care that she’s aromatic or whatever. it’s not even a surprise or a big deal so stop treating it like one._

**_Kim:_ ** _tbh i’m not surprised either, always knew she was too cool for anyone ;)_

**_Kim:_ ** _oh shit she’s gonna read this isn’t she_

**_Max:_ ** _Approximately 1% of the population is estimated to be aromantic, though the actual figure could be much higher, so Alix if you’re reading this, just know that there are at least 22,000 other people like you in Paris alone and that amatonormativity is a social construct and you’re awesome_

**_Kim:_ ** _yeah, see? max knows what he’s talking about_

 

Nathaniel had been watching over her shoulder as she read through the chat log. “Well, most of them seem okay with it…”

It certainly could have been a lot worse, that was for sure. Obviously Chloé was going to be a bitch about it, no surprises there. And obviously people like Rose, Alya, Juleka, Mylène and Marinette were going to be supportive. They were always trying to be as nice as possible.

Kim standing up for her though? That was one thing that had caught her unawares. While “rival” was a bit of a strong term for how they saw each other, he still tended to not go out of his way to be nice to her. Actually thinking that she was _cool_ was something she had been sure he would never admit.

Then again, after the mermaid akuma attack that had flooded the city, Kim seemed to have pretty much lost all previous tolerance for Chloé. Maybe he just wanted an excuse to allow his bitterness towards her to surface. He certainly didn’t have a crush on her any longer, and it _showed_. Who even knew if he truly cared about sticking up for Alix or not – perhaps he was simply reminding Chloé that he had picked an akumatized siren over her, and didn’t regret it.

Alix sighed. “Should I say something?”

“I don’t know, it’s up to you.”

“I have no idea what to do. I mean… I did always consider scenarios where I came out to everyone, but it was never like this…”

Nath, still with his arm around her, pulled her a little closer. He probably had no idea what to say or do either, did he? Even in the best of situations he was a nervous wreck. Alix just took a deep breath and began typing.

**_Alix:_ ** _i guess you all saw that, then. yeah, it’s true. i’m aroace. (look it up, i’m not gonna bother explaining.) so will you guys stop shipping me with nath already?_

Nathaniel giggled. “Oh yeah, good point, they’ll stop doing that now, won’t they?”

“Hopefully. It was getting annoying.”

“Hey, that gives me an idea…”

He started typing something into his own phone. Alix tried to look, but he held it too high for her to see until he had sent the message.

**_Nath:_ ** _i have a confession to make too. i’m dating marc anciel._

Alix stared at him. “Nath – you didn’t have to–”

“I know, I know, I… oh why did I just do that…” He blushed bright red, his eyes widening. “Oh my god. I just did a reckless thing. I really am turning into you.”

**_Alya:_ ** _WOOT WOOT_

**_Kim:_ ** _join the club bro!_

**_Juleka:_ ** _yaaaaas let’s be emo mlm wlw solidarity!!!_

**_Rose:_ ** _nathan you sweetie pie, i am so gosh darn proud of you right now <333_

**_Marinette:_ ** _i knew you joined the art club for a reason!_

**_Nino:_ ** _oh dude i’m so late to this whole convo (im in the train) but that’s so freakin awesome!!_

**_Adrien:_ ** _you two make a wonderful couple!_

“See, now they’re distracted from you,” Nath said, a shaky smile on his face. “And when they see us in class tomorrow, they’ll freak out at me as much as they’ll freak out at you…”

He was trembling. Poor guy, he must be so unbelievably mortified at what he’d just done.

“I wish the world didn’t have to be like this,” Alix blurted out.

“Like what?”

“Like us having to tell people these things about ourselves and hope they won’t judge us for it! I wish we could all just be ourselves and know for sure that no one will mind…” She sighed. “My dad’s gonna kill me. The first thing he said after I came out to him was not to tell anyone else. Of course, the second thing he said was that it’s just a phase, and that turned out to be wrong, so…”

“You want me to stay over?” Nath asked. “I know your dad won’t get mad at you when there’s a guest around. I could stay over for tonight, give him enough time to cool down about it, or something.”

Alix smiled, wondering how her best friend could even get this awesome. “Yeah, that would be great. Thanks.”

“So am I staying over here? The Louvre?”

“Yep.”

“So you really, 100% do live here after all?”

She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the doors, still smiling. “Allegedly.”

He just shook his head, chuckling. “Allegedly, of course…”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Ace Awareness Week!! This story has been mostly on the aro side so far (because there's way less of that in media/fanfics), but in honour of this week, here's some ace nonsense too. And I swear I do know where I want to end this fic, but it just keeps getting longer and longer...
> 
> ALSO!! Look at this [awesome art](https://asocial-snickerdoodles.tumblr.com/post/177972022111/fanart-of-the-character-alix-kubdel-from) that @asocial-snickerdoodles drew!!

The next day at school, Chloé’s limo was parked outside the entrance and she stood beside it with a scowl on her face, arms crossed, tapping her foot impatiently. As soon as she spotted Alix and Nathaniel she grabbed them both by the arm.

“I need to talk to you. Get in the limo.”

“Good morning to you too,” Alix said, rolling her eyes. “What do you want? We’ve got school to get to.”

“It’ll only take a moment!”

“Ugh, fine.”

Chloé opened the limo door and pushed them both inside, then entered it herself and shut the door behind her, glancing around rather suspiciously as she did so.

“Just say what you have to say and go,” Alix snapped. She hadn’t forgotten what Chloé said on the group chat yesterday, and she doubted that this was going to be pleasant.

Chloé cleared her throat, smoothed out her jacket, then said, “I would like to make an apology.”

For several seconds there was a stunned silence. Chloé Bourgeois was not the sort of person who _apologized_. It went against her entire way of dealing with people, throwing around her weight in order to run the world just the way she liked it. Apologies were not a part of her lifestyle.

Yet here she was, her nose turned up haughtily as always, only a slight tremble in her hands to indicate that she was indeed telling the truth.

“Stop staring at me like that!” she huffed. “I know you all think of me as the literal devil, and perhaps not entirely without reason, but can’t you at least accept that I’m trying to be nice? I’m sorry for what I said yesterday. Well, Nathaniel, I didn’t say anything to you at all, so there’s nothing to apologize for there. But Alix, I’m sorry for calling you heartless.”

Her tone of voice was still hostile. But something in it was sincere.

Since Nath was still just sitting there being too shy to say anything, Alix decided to be the one to break the silence. “What made you suddenly change your mind?”

“Well, I went and looked up your little ‘aroace’ thing on the internet – actually I got my butler to do it since I didn’t want it in my search history, but that’s beside the point – and it struck me that ‘heartless’ isn’t accurate. You do have friends, after all. Though they’re all just as pathetic as you. And I suppose you are a decent person. Though your fashion sense is utterly atrocious.”

Classic Chloé, unable to say even one nice thing without throwing insults in too. But it was still better than her usual attitude by a longshot.

“In fact,” Chloé mused, “it would make sense that your clothing choices are so terrible, as you’d want to put people off, wouldn’t you? I’d say it’s only partially working though…”

Alix grinned. “Thanks for your apology. I mean, you actually went and looked it up online?”

“My butler did, not me!” Chloé turned away, blushing. “But yes, I was… curious. It was entirely impersonal. I know you’re my classmate but don’t get the impression that I did this specifically for you. I just wanted to improve my level of knowledge in general.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“And Nathaniel,” Chloé continued, turning to face him now, “you and Marc are excellent for each other. I mean, the colour of his hoodie clashes with your hair in the most awful way, and you’re both all quiet and emo. So… good choice.”

Nath just nodded.

“Anyway! Now I’ve got all that out of the way, we’ve got class to attend, so please get out of my limo.” She opened the door of the limo and stepped out, giving her arms a quick shake. “Ugh, being nice is so tiring… I hope you’re happy…”

Alix and Nath followed her back out of the limo, still rather surprised about what had just happened. Could the day get any weirder?

 

* * *

 

Apparently it could. As soon as they entered the classroom Rose leapt up from her seat and rushed up to wring Nath’s hand, her shrill voice bouncing off the walls.

“Nath Nath Nath Nath!!! I’m so happy for you and Marc! You two are so so so cute together, in fact I told Juleka the same thing when I saw you two sitting together in art club, you’re the sweetest! Congratulations!...”

Nath was still just spluttering and nodding, taken aback, so Alix quietly crept away and sat down at her seat, glad that Rose’s attention was elsewhere for now. The next thing she knew, Mylène had leaned over and pulled her into a hug so tight she could barely breathe.

“Mylène, what the heck are you d–”

“I’m proud of you, silly billy!” Mylène pulled away and gave Alix’s hair a ruffle. “You stood up to an akuma villain yesterday!”

As if that was something to be proud of when the whole class did that all the time. “That’s not what you’re really proud of, is it?”

Mylène lowered her voice. “Well, no… but Alya told us not to mention the aroace thing too much. You didn’t want all of Paris knowing about it.”

“Yeah, I didn’t.”

“I’m sorry that happened. But I promise I’m always going to support you with it, okay? You’re my friend!”

Alix couldn’t prevent a smile slipping onto her face. “Thanks, Mylène.”

“No problem.”

She looked around, noticing her other classmates giving her encouraging smiles and waves when they spotted her, even ones who she didn’t talk to often, like Sabrina or Adrien.

They really did care, didn’t they? Maybe it wasn’t so bad that they knew. Even Chloé was trying to be nice about it. That counted for something. Perhaps the events of yesterday hadn’t been a complete disaster after all.

 

* * *

 

By the time she got home that evening she was in high spirits. Even the stares of fellow Parisian citizens as she walked down the streets, recognizing her from the Ladyblog video, didn’t faze her too much. They would forget about it and move on in a while, like they always did whenever something new happened. It wasn’t too much of a big deal.

As soon as she walked through the living room door her heart sank right down to her feet. Her father was standing there, waiting for her, and he didn’t look particularly happy.

Drat… she had totally forgotten. Last night Nath had been here with her, so she’d spent the whole time holed up in her room playing Monopoly with him and pretending everything else didn’t exist. Now she would have to face the delayed consequences. This was going to suck…

“How was your day?” her father asked her, his tone unnatural.

She threw her bag on the ground and sighed. “Dad, whatever you wanna say about yesterday, just say it. I know you’re mad at me.”

He shook his head. “I’m not mad at you, you stood up to an akuma villain and tried to protect your friend. That was very noble.”

“You’re… not mad?” Her spirits began to lift.

“No. Though I was going to suggest… well… a check-up at the GP might be an idea, since…”

She took an involuntary step backwards. “Wait, _what?!”_

“I know you’re young, and things can change, but just to make sure everything’s going normally–”

“Dad, no!” Her blood ran cold. “I don’t need to see a doctor, oh my god! There’s nothing wrong with me!”

“I’m not saying there is! But you’ve always been very different from your peers, just look at your height for example, so if there’s a problem then we really should see if we can get it sorted–”

“I’m not going to a doctor about this!” Panic was setting in, rather alarmingly. “You can’t tell me that you saw what happened yesterday, and your first thought was that – that I need – _f-fixing?!_ Holy shit, dad.”

“Watch your language!”

“I don’t care!” She stormed off towards her room, knowing that if she couldn’t get away then she’d end up throwing a full-on temper tantrum, and then her father would never take her seriously.

“Don’t go, I haven’t finished yet–”

She ignored him and slammed her bedroom door shut.

The doctor, really? Did he seriously think this was some kind of disease? Was that the impression he got from yesterday?

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked the Ladyblog. Since yesterday she had been ignoring it entirely, not wanting to know what kind of comments were flooding the forums. But she had to know now. She just had to.

It seemed to be a mixed bag. Sure, there were people who were supportive. Other aromantic people showing solidarity. Nice comments. But none of those stuck in her mind. The only ones that leapt out at her as she scrolled through, tears stinging her eyes, were the negative ones.

_She needs to get that looked at, that’s not natural._

_Is she some kind of freak?_

_She’s so young, look at her, she’s got to be, what, 12? She’s far too young to call herself aromantic. It’ll change when she gets older, like everyone else._

_Maybe she’s never dated anyone before. If she just tried, that could fix it. I’m free ;)_

_I wouldn’t want to be friends with someone like that…_

_I feel so sorry for her. She’s missing out!_

Alix crushed the phone in her hand, trying not to let her rage get the better of her. Was it so hard for people to just be nice?!

She put on a pair of headphones and lay down on her bed. Hopefully music would make her feel better. Skating would have been ideal, but she would have to leave her room for that, and her father was still out there. No way was she talking to him right now. And Nath was off with Marc doing something, she didn’t want to interrupt him with messages and phone calls. Sulking alone in her room, it was.

Man… she hadn’t felt this bad about things since a certain ice cream seller had pitied her for her lack of soulmate quite a while ago. When she had found out being aromantic was a real thing, she was sure it would be the end of all her problems. No more worrying that something was wrong, no more wondering how to fix it!

But people, ugh, _people_ could just be so irritating!

She didn’t really need to see a doctor, did she? Being aro didn’t mean she was broken inside! That was what she kept telling herself!

Right now, though, it was getting a little hard to believe.

 

* * *

 

At least 10 songs had gone by before there was a knock at her door.

“Unless you’re Nathaniel, go the fuck away,” she called.

“I’m not Nathaniel, but I’m almost as good, right?”

She sat up. “Jalil! Yeah fine, come in then.”

The door opened and her brother walked in, carrying a tray of juice and biscuits. “I thought you might be hungry so I got you some stuff.”

“Oh, thanks…”

He sat down beside her and handed her a juice carton. “Alix, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Is this about yesterday?”

“Well sort of, it’s… wait a second, have you been crying?”

She hastily wiped her face with her sleeve. “It doesn’t matter! What were you saying?”

He put the tray aside and put an arm around her. “I wanted to say I’m sorry for not being around much recently. I had so many deadlines and I had to help out with the exhibit too and uh… well I’m back now anyway. So whatever’s bugging you, I’ll be here if you need it.”

She nodded, tears threatening to start falling again at any moment. “Thanks, nerd…”

“And I also wanted to say that I sorta overheard what dad said earlier. I know someone who works at the GP surgery doing admin stuff, so if dad tries to book an appointment, I can arrange for it to be… ‘cancelled’, or ‘lost’, if you get what I’m saying.”

“That’s illegal and I love it.”

“Of course. I’m a historian, we thrive off grave-robbing and other shady illegal activities.”

She giggled. “You say that, but you can’t even drive a kilometre over the speed limit without having a breakdown.”

“But I’d do it for you, you little punk.” He poked her in the side of the face. “You’re adorable. How are your cheeks still squishy? Look at them…”

There he went again, being all _typical older sibling_. She didn’t mind it, it just confused her. Did he genuinely think she was adorable? Usually people were a little too terrified of her or annoyed at her to think so. In many ways, the fact that she and Jalil got along with each other was very refreshing indeed.

“Thanks for being decent about all this,” she said.

“Well someone in this family has to be.”

“Do you think dad will come around in the end?”

“I hope so, punk.” He gave her cheek another squish. “But if he doesn’t, feel free to vent at me about it. Or if I’m busy then go vent at that artist friend of yours, or any of your other friends.”

He was right – Nath was always going to be there for her. Everyone else in the class had been nice to her today too. There would always be people who did support her, even if it hurt that for now, her own father didn’t.

She gave him a hug. “Hey Jalil? You’re the best.”

“Does that mean you’ll go easy on me in our next Mario Kart battle?”

“What the fuck? No.”

“Eh, it was worth a shot…”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Nathaniel hadn’t meant to spend so long at Marc’s place, it had just sort of… _happened_. Now it was close to midnight and he hurried through the dark streets, seriously hoping he wouldn’t get mugged. He had that Ladyblog alert app on his phone, right? Surely he could use that if he got into any trouble. Ladybug would save him.

He stopped dead as he saw a hooded figure in the alleyway up ahead.

Was it a good idea to turn around and run?

The hooded figure seemed to be tagging the walls with a can of spray paint. Nath tiptoed a little closer, phone tight in his hand. This mysterious person certainly seemed to be rather on the short side… and was that a pair of skates they were wearing? Even closer now, he was sure he recognized the flag that the person was painting on the wall.

No way…

“Alix?” he asked.

She jumped and dropped the paint can, turning around. “Nath! Wh… what are you doing here?!”

“I could ask you the same question!”

“You first.”

She seemed to be in her pyjamas, just with a hoodie over the top to keep herself warm and skates strapped to her feet. For once she wasn’t even wearing a helmet.

“I was at Marc’s place,” Nath said, his voice echoing rather hauntingly through the alley. “We were watching a movie, and… I’ll spare you the details. It got late, I guess.”

She grinned. “You didn’t just stay over at his place?”

“He’s going on holiday tomorrow morning.”

“Huh, summer holidays don’t even start for another few days.”

“Yeah, they’re going a bit early to save money.” He took a step towards her. “Your turn now. What are you doing here?”

She lowered her eyes, her smile falling. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“So you decided to come out here in the middle of the night and start going all-out _Jet Set Radio?”_ He gestured at the wall behind her.

“I had to get out and just… ugh, do something! So I bribed the security guards to let me out and yeah, here I am. I have a knife, don’t worry. I’m not gonna get murdered.”

“I’m not worried about you getting murdered. I’m worried about why you’re even out here in the first place. And why you couldn’t sleep.”

“Because _this_ , Nathaniel,” she said, pointing at the painted flag behind her. “My dad’s trying to book me a doctor’s appointment because he thinks my hormones are fucked up or some bullshit, and half the audience of the Ladyblog thinks I’m some kind of whiny loser, and… and I’m trying to just be proud of who I am now that everyone knows but… I just…”

He didn’t even think twice before hugging her. He had absolutely no idea what to say, especially since he was almost certain she was crying a little, but he hoped this could somehow help. At least a bit.

“Sorry,” she said, rolling back a little to look at him. “It’s just been one of those days. I know it was stupid of me to come out here and…”

“You’ve done stupider things,” he said, shrugging. “Was there a reason you happen to be very near my house right now?”

She smiled. “Just feels nicer knowing I’m near you, I guess.”

“Aww…” Even now, despite knowing how much his best friend cared about him, it still warmed his heart to hear her say things like that. “I’m loving the aro flag, by the way.”

“This thing?” She turned around to look at it on the wall behind her. “It’s so messy and I didn’t even have the right shades of green!... But thanks.”

He just watched her for several seconds as she picked up all her spare paint cans, shoving them into her pockets. The end of the school year was coming way too fast. It filled him with more dread than he realized, and right now, it was hitting him.

“What am I gonna do next year?” he asked.

“Uh, what do you mean?”

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Lycée. We won’t be at school together anymore.”

“I’m glad I wasn’t the only one thinking about that,” she admitted. “I know I won’t see you at school, but you’re always welcome to hang out at the museum with me whenever you want.”

“Thanks. And keep sending me all those really bad ace memes you somehow manage to find. They’ll keep me going.”

“Yeah, I will. And… you’ll have Marc with you, you know…”

Nath put a hand on her shoulder. “I know. But he’s not a replacement. I’m still gonna miss you like crazy.”

She smiled for a few moments. “Same. But we don’t have to think about that right now, we’ve still got a few days of school left and I’ll see you in the holidays too, right? It won’t be any different until September.”

“Yeah. It’ll be alright.” He gave her a wink. “Anyway, I think both of us should probably get home and go to sleep now, or tomorrow I’m gonna get told off for falling asleep in class again.”

“Good point. Hey, I’ll race you home! Send me a message when you get to your house and we’ll see who got there first, yeah?”

“Alix, no–”

“Ready steady GO!”

She laughed and skated off before he could even say anything else. He couldn’t help but chuckle – she was always good at cheering herself up, no matter what was going on. And she was good at cheering him up, too. It was nice to know that they’d always be there for each other, even after these holidays were over and things changed.

 

* * *

 

 

To Alix’s immense relief, her father seemed to have dropped the subject of doctors entirely over the next few weeks. He almost seemed to be avoiding the topic. While she still knew how he really felt, at least this was better than the alternative. It allowed her to enjoy the summer holidays without having to really think about things that hurt, and she could just hang out with Nath or with Marinette and her friends without having to worry.

The peaceful bliss of a life without school ended abruptly on the first day of lycée. Alix stood at the entrance to her new classroom, looking over the seats and wondering where the _hell_ to sit.

Juleka and Rose had already nabbed the two seats together by the far window, of course. No surprises there. Alix had wondered if she should spend her time at this new school hanging out with those two, knowing how making new friends wasn’t her cup of tea, but even just now looking at them she could already tell what a third wheel she would end up if she did that.

“Hi Alix!” Rose called, waving at her.

“Hey guys.” She waved back. It would at least be nice seeing friendly faces around, even if those particularly friendly faces were rather mushy and obsessed with each other. At least they were happy.

She didn’t know anyone else in here, so she just sat down at a random empty seat, staring out of the window and vaguely wondering if anyone would dare sit beside her. Would they recognize her as that one aro girl from the Ladyblog some months back? Or would any of them know her as Timebreaker? She kind of hoped not.

So lost in her thoughts, she didn’t notice that someone had wandered up next to her until they suddenly grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and yanked her up into the air.

“Hey munchkin! I can’t believe I’m seeing you here!”

Ugh, that voice, she knew exactly who that was…

“Will you put me down, Kim?” she snapped.

“Oh yeah, sorry…” He dropped her rather unceremoniously back onto her seat. “Anyone sitting here? Can I sit here?”

“Fine, if you must.”

“Cool.” He dumped all his stuff onto the desk and sat down beside her. “May as well sit with someone I already know, now that I don’t have Max.”

Oh, of course, Max was at some high-tech nerdy place thanks to Markov, his robot invention. Looked like Kim would have to find some other smart nerd to befriend now.

He was nattering on about something else now, and Alix just zoned out and looked out of the window again. She knew perfectly well that at least 50% of the stuff Kim said was absolute nonsense. He was probably just glad he already had someone to brag at about punching a lion, or beating a polar bear at tennis, or whatever tall story he had decided on this time. It was only a matter of time before he started challenging her to his ridiculous dares, wasn’t it?

 

* * *

 

When the bell rang for break to begin she had been thinking about going and maybe talking to Juleka and Rose, but after putting her books away in her locker she had no idea where they were. Was sending them a message worth it? Or should she actually try to be a decent sociable person and make some new friends for once?

“Hey Alix, you wanna go explore?”

It was Kim again. Alix closed her locker and turned to face him. “Dude, why are you so eager to talk to me?”

He looked rather taken aback. “Why wouldn’t I be? Aren’t we friends?”

“Uh… I guess…”

“I know I didn’t see you much over the holidays, but that’s good because now we have loads to catch up on! Right?”

“I have to ask you something,” she said, wondering if this was even a good idea. “You know last year at school, after the whole… aro thing… you started being really nice to me, well… did you actually mean it? Or were you just doing it to spite Chloé?”

“What? I meant it, of course! Why would I go out of my way to care about what _Chloé_ thinks anymore? I mean okay she’s kinda cool now, but still, I wasn’t doing it for her. Did you really think that?”

“Um… nooooo…”

“You did, didn’t you?” He crossed his arms. “People keep underinvestigating me.”

“Do you mean underestimating?”

“Oh yeah, that.” He looked around suddenly, lowering his voice. “That reminds me, there’s something I should probably tell you. But it’s top secret and you have to promise not to tell anyone.”

“Yeah, whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“And before I tell you, you have to stop treating me like I’m just some dumb annoying idiot all the time.”

Oh, oops. “Fine. Sorry.” The way he was frowning at her was enough to make her feel a little guilty. Kim could be annoying sometimes, but most of the time he was alright. The stupid challenges could be pretty fun, in fact. Perhaps he was right – she had been underestimating him. He seemed to think quite highly of her, and she should respect that.

“Okay, well here’s the secret,” he said, leaning in. “It turns out I _think_ I might possibly, probably, be likely to be… ace. Y’know, like you.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yep.”

Alix grinned. “Another ace friend? It’s like we band together before even knowing it!”

“Yeah! I mean, I’m not 100% certain, but…” He looked rather thoughtful for once. “It always feels like I’m kind of unconnected from what I’m meant to be.”

“Do you mean disconnected?”

“Whatever, unconnected is totally a word. What I’m saying is, I’m a jock, right? And I’m super hot, everyone knows that, I can run really fast and I’m awesome and fabulous and have a hot swimmer girlfriend and…”

“Get to the point.”

“Well the truth is, people always have all these expectations of what I’m like. I haven’t really made friends yet with anyone here because the way people talk to me, it’s like they expect me to be a certain way and act a certain way, and I’m just… not, I guess. I dunno. Maybe I’m too young to say for sure. But I can’t relate to half the stuff everyone goes on about. I really think I might be ace.”

“Sounds relatable to me, dude.”

“Oh, good. And it especially gets on my nerves when people call me that one nickname, you know the one…”

Oh yes, _that_ nickname. Ever since Ondine had got akumatized into Syren and pulled Kim down below the depths to do who knew what, people had been coming up with their own conclusions, especially since the two had got together shortly afterwards.

“Mermaid-fucker,” she said, smirking.

He winced. “Yeah, that nickname. It was kinda funny at first, but now it’s getting annoying. I mean, how does that even work? Biologically and stuff? Actually I don’t wanna know.”

“I’m sorry for calling you that nickname behind your back.”

“You did what?” He grinned, shaking his head. “I thought you of all people wouldn’t…”

“Hey, just ‘cause I’m ace, doesn’t mean I don’t have a sense of humour. And the idea of my classmate being a scalie is pretty damn hilarious.”

“I’m not a scalie!... Well yeah, okay, I am. But the point is that I’m an _ace_ scalie, and I thought I should tell you, since you’re ace too and you’re pretty cool.”

So every time he had called her cool over the past year, he really hadn’t been lying. He genuinely did think she was cool. And the whole time, she had simply chalked it up to him wanting to annoy Chloé! To think that she could have made proper friends with him far earlier if she had put in any effort, and yet she didn’t…

“You’re pretty cool too,” she said, beaming up at him and giving him a punch in the arm.

“You… you think so?” His face lit up.

“Yeah. And I’m sorry for ever doubting you. You’re right, we’re friends.”

“Nice!” He suddenly scooped her up and plonked her onto his shoulder. “You can be my sidekick!”

“WHAT? No way, you’re the sidekick!”

“Too late! Come on sidekick, let’s go explore the school!”

He ran off with her perched on his shoulder like that, as if she was some kind of pet parrot or something. As much as she hated to admit it, it was actually… well, pretty hilarious.

 

* * *

 

 

When Alix arrived home from her first day at lycée, she stepped into her room and did a double take.

“NATHANIEL??? What are you doing here?!”

He jumped up off the bed. “My school’s closer to here than yours is, that’s why I got here before you. You don’t mind that I was in your room, right? I mean, I’m guessing that’s why you gave me a spare key…”

“No, I don’t mind, of course not. But… I mean, why are you here? At my place?”

“Well I don’t know, it was just my first instinct to come here, I guess…” He brushed a hand through his bright red fringe. “I’m so used to it here at the Louvre, it feels like home. Even if we’re at different schools it doesn’t change the fact that I basically live here. And uh… I love you I guess? Yeah, that too.”

It was always so unexpected to hear Nath being free with his emotions, and especially to hear him saying something as heartfelt as _I love you_ , even if he had mumbled that part. Alix had known, logically, that he wouldn’t stop visiting her once the school year started, but the thought had still haunted her. It was so nice to see that her fears were not going to come true any time soon.

“Thanks for coming over,” she said, returning his smile. “You’re the best friend ever and I uh… love you too. Yeah.”

He sat back down on the bed and waved her over to join him. “So how was your first day?”

“It was pretty good actually. Kim adopted me as his sidekick and we played cards against Juleka and Rose.”

“Let me guess: you cheated at cards.”

“Mmmmmmaybe a little bit. And how was your day?”

He looked down, blushing. “Good…”

“I see that blush. What did you and Marc get up to?”

“He got a haircut and it looks really, really good. So I drew him.”

“Nice!”

“And also kissed him…”

“I knew it.”

Nath opened his schoolbag. “Anyway, I’ve already got some homework and I should probably get started on it before I get distracted. Can we go in that quiet abandoned gallery again?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll get my homework too.”

“Awesome.”

Doing homework together, surrounded by artwork… it was just like last year, really. Things weren’t all that different. Not yet, anyway. For now, at least, it seemed like this year was going to be alright. Thank goodness.


	5. Chapter 5

Juleka opened the door of the dressing room and gave a little twirl. “Does this outfit make me look like a lesbian?”

Alix looked up from her phone and took a look. Hm, that was barely even flannel, maybe _tartan_ at most. Not the straightest of clothing, but not exactly the gayest either. “No.”

“Crap, I’m gonna have to change again,” Juleka muttered under her breath.

“Uh, you know Rose already likes you, right? You can lighten up a bit.”

“I know, I know…” Juleka sighed and hugged her arms to her chest. “It’s just I’ve never had a girlfriend before, I’m just such a disaster…”

Was everyone seriously like this? It seemed like whenever romance was involved, everyone just threw their brains out of the window and acted as stupid and nonsensical as possible for no particular reason. And apparently it was considered _cute_. Despite all the evidence, Alix still half suspected it was a con that the whole world was in on except for her. Surely it couldn’t be a real thing.

But here it was. Blushes couldn’t be faked, and yet Juleka was staring off into space, presumably daydreaming about Rose, with a bright red streak across that usually pale face of hers.

“You don’t need to worry,” Alix assured her. “You’re the most stereotypical disaster lesbian I’ve ever seen. Rose literally kissed you on the lips and asked you out and confessed her love for you, and you still wondered if she actually liked you. From what I know, being a useless dork is some kind of lesbian tradition.”

Juleka looked at the floor, a sheepish smile on her face. “You’re right.”

“Of course I am.”

She brushed her purple fringe out of her face, still looking nervous. “I used to think you were one too, you know. You wear the kind of clothes that could set off someone’s gaydar a hundred kilometres away.”

Alix spun her cap to face backwards, grinning. “Even I used to think I was one. I mean, a tomboy who’s never been into boys? Before I knew being aro was a thing I thought lesbian was the only other option.”

“I guess the aesthetics are pretty similar, huh? And some of the experiences.” Juleka sat down, smoothing out the not-quite-flannel shirt she was wearing. “How did you know you were aro then? Um… if it’s okay to ask.”

It wasn’t exactly something Alix wanted to reminisce about – realizing she wasn’t into anyone at all had not been the most _comforting_ of revelations, and even now at 16, almost a year after that akuma attack that had proved her right, there was still that nagging voice at the back of her head saying: _What if you’re somehow wrong?_

“I asked that ice cream guy to gimme some of his romance soulmate ice cream and he said he couldn’t,” she said finally. “That was what convinced me that my suspicions were true. And then I went home and looked it up on the internet and found out that being aroace is a legit thing.”

Juleka frowned. “Really? André refused to give you ice cream?”

“Oh no, he said he could give me ice cream, but it’d be plain flavour because his normal soulmate magic couldn’t ‘sense my aura’ or something. He seemed so bummed out about it, like it was the worst fate in the world.”

She tried not to let herself sound too bitter. That ice cream rejection had _hurt_ , and more because of André’s pitying reaction than anything else. Did other people really think romance was so amazing that a happy life without it was totally inconceivable? Were they right?

Juleka was blushing again. “He gave me bright pink ice cream, and Rose asked me out a week later… I think he does have some kind of magic gaydar powers. Or in your case, ace-dar. Aro-dar. Whatever.”

“Yeah, I just wish he was a bit less…” Alix stopped before saying the word _amatonormative_. She didn’t want Juleka to think she was whining about something that no one else considered a big deal – she knew from the internet that according to many people, aroace issues weren’t exactly considered important.

“I know what you mean,” Juleka said. “No one really knows being aro or ace is a thing, do they?” She smoothed out her dress. “Anyway, are you sure I look fine? Will Rose like it?”

“Jules, you could show up to your date in a hazmat suit and Rose would still like it.”

“You’re right, you’re right. Luka says the same thing. Ugh, I swear he has the gift of having that objective aromantic wisdom without even being aromantic. Or maybe he is? He never did tell me if he really had a thing for Marinette or not…”

Alix tried not to get her hopes up too much. Every time any well-meaning friend had said to her “oh I think so-and-so is aromantic too!” it had always proven to be false. Not everyone who was shy or quiet didn’t care about romance. They just _acted_ like they didn’t, which wasn’t the same thing. She had never actually met another real life aromantic, ever. Not even Max’s robot, weirdly enough.

“You’ll be fine,” she said. “Now go pay for that thing and meet up with Rose. I’ve got homework to do.”

Juleka beamed at her. “Thank you for coming with me, by the way. I mean… I know you’re a bit bored and you don’t care about fashion or dates or whatever, but um, I don’t really have many other friends at school. There’s you, Rose, I guess Kim… that’s about it.”

“Yeah, same…”

It seemed like the older you got, the more difficult it was to make friends that you actually cared about. Alix still tended to just hang out with her old collège squad and vaguely tolerate everyone else. After all, they had been through the initial phase of akuma attacks together, so they knew they could trust each other. It was a kind of unspoken camaraderie that simply couldn’t be achieved with anyone else.

Of course, it was a lot less fun when Juleka and Rose were busy making googly-eyes at each other in every possible situation, and Kim never got off the phone with Ondine…

At least she still had Nathaniel. Even all these months later, he was the only one who didn’t treat her like some kind of discount second choice.

“I’ve gotta get back to the museum now,” she said, standing up, “but good luck with your date with Rose. Not that you need it, let’s be honest.”

Juleka frowned. “Why do you still always say you’re going to the museum? Why don’t you just say you’re going home?”

“I’m going to my alleged home.”

“Fine then, and I’m going to have a date with my alleged girlfriend. I’ll let you know how it goes!”

In detail? Please not in detail. She was happy for Juleka, she really was, but… ugh. She got enough _detail_ from Kim on a daily basis.

“Cool, see you later.”

With that, she left her disaster lesbian of a friend and headed off towards her alleged home.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Nathaniel had known high school was not going to be some kind of musical, obviously. But did it seriously have to suck this much?!

“Tell me a joke,” he said to Alix, chucking his stupidly heavy schoolbag onto the floor and collapsing onto the bed, exhausted after another day. “I need cheering up.”

“A joke, huh? Hm… our meaningless existence in the universe. That’s a joke.”

He couldn’t help but grin – of course she’d say something dumb like that. All the same, he grabbed one of the pillows and threw it at her. “I think my existence is for the sole purpose of getting told off by teachers, actually.”

She sat down beside him. “Another rough day?”

He nodded. “I’ve already run out of printing money and had to go to the office to apply for more, but the teacher wasn’t there, so I waited outside all lunch and got told off for eating in the corridors, and then I was late for my next class, and Marc got in trouble for lending me some of his printing allowance even though I didn’t have any and couldn’t do my work, and…”

There was no point just aimlessly venting about his day. It was always like this. Grown-ups would say things like “lycée was the best time of my life!” and honestly, he couldn’t believe it. He’d been there for months and months and it was the absolute _worst!_ Maybe nostalgia was just one hell of a memory-warper. He himself was already beginning to miss collège, as bad as that had been.

“Anyway, how was your day?” he asked.

Alix frowned. “Got called a delinquent twice, and was dragged into a clothes shop by Juleka to help Julerose set sail.”

“I thought Juleka and Rose were already a couple.”

“So did I! I guess they’re just being very… well, you know how shy you and Marc were with each other at first.”

Nath blushed, just remembering it. That had been quite a while ago now. Marc wasn’t nervous around him at all anymore, thank goodness. “And why were you called a delinquent?”

“Because some people think that a person doing street art _in the art room_ must be a hoodlum who’s going to hit people with baseball bats and mug them.”

“I mean, you have done street art outside. And hit people with baseball bats.”

She grinned. “Yeah, but they deserved it.”

For the millionth time, Nath fondly wondered how the two of them, despite being so different, had ended up so close. He could never hit someone with a baseball bat! But he admired his best friend being able to. Heck, she was basically his bodyguard whenever he needed to go somewhere late at night or elsewhere dodgy.

“By the way, can I stay over tonight?” he asked. “I’ve got so much homework and it’s just easier to do it here.”

“Yeah, of course! You don’t need to ask. You live here now. It’s official. I’m making it official.”

“Really? So… am I allowed to say that I allegedly live here, like you do?”

“Yep. Best friend privileges.”

Allegedly living at the Louvre! He had dreamed of when this day would finally come!

“Thank you Alix!” He scrambled over to hug her, practically picking her up in the process. Funnily enough, while he had grown a lot over the past year and finally hit an average height for his age, Alix had stayed just as small as she had always been.

“Do you live at Marc’s place too?” she asked him.

“No, why?”

“I just guessed you would, since…”

He shook his head. “I see him at school anyway. The only place I live is right here, at the Louvre. Well, and also my actual house. But I spend more time here, to be honest.”

“Oh, right.”

The relief was audible in her voice. Nath had suspected for a long time that she was worried he would completely ditch her for Marc, which was an understandable fear really, considering that from the sounds of it, the rest of her friends were in the process of doing something similar. But the thought of just _abandoning_ Alix like that hurt too much for him to bear. Marc meant a lot to him, of course. But he wasn’t going to ever let that get in the way of anything!

“So,” he said, “if I live here now, does that mean I’m allowed into the galleries afterhours even when you’re not around?”

“Heck yeah. The security guards all know you anyway.”

“Nice.”

“They think you’re my boyfriend.”

“Oh. Less nice. What do they think Marc is, then? My brother? I bring him here loads!”

She shrugged. “People are just really straight, I guess.”

“Yeah, like that ice cream guy…” He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Speaking of which, did you see what he posted on his website earlier?”

Opening the webpage, he held up his phone at her.

“ _Now introducing rainbow ice cream in support of the LGBTQ+ community, after Ladybug’s inspiring speech the other day…_ ” Her frown lifted slightly. “That’s an improvement, I guess. And Juleka told me he gave her very pink ice cream, which makes sense when it comes to Rose at least.”

“Should I take Marc there and see what he says?”

“Yeah, if you want… why are you asking me?”

“Because I know you said André made you feel bad about being aro,” he said. “I’m not supporting someone who was mean to my best friend.”

She smiled. “Thanks dude. But that was years ago! I don’t mind if you go get your boyfriend ice cream from Mr Soulmates-Are-Real. It’s just ice cream.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Go for it.”

“Hm. Maybe.”

He lay back and began messaging Marc, though his thoughts were somewhere else. Alix had never actually told him in detail what had happened with the ice cream thing. It seemed to be something she didn’t like thinking about. While he was somewhat curious, he didn’t want to press it. From everything else she had told him, it seemed that the _aro_ side of being aroace hit her a lot harder than the _ace_ side did.

Was he luckier than her somehow, then? Maybe not. He was a boy with a boyfriend, after all, and very wary of telling people. Well, they both had their problems then, really. The important thing was to get through it all together.

 

 

* * *

 

 

_Fuck_ Valentine’s Day.

It had been alright on that one day two years ago when Alix had managed to make friends with Nathaniel, but every other year it just absolutely _sucked_. Everyone always abandoned her to go hang out with whoever else was more important, and all the stupid ooey-gooey mushiness everywhere – ugh, it made her sick!

At least it was sleeting hard this year. No idiot couples were out and about to brave the bad weather. So, was love all that strong and special then if a bit of ice falling from the sky could deter people? No way! It was lame, lame lame.

She skated along the Pont des Artes on her way home, silently cursing each and every padlock she passed. Wasn’t the city council supposed to have been replacing that dumb stuff with plexiglass at some point? Apparently they’d chickened out. Caved in to the pressure of love, once again, just like everyone else on this hellscape of a planet.

Barely watching where she was going, she only saw the stall materialize in front of her out of the winter haze at the last second. She managed to screech to a halt, only just avoiding knocking it over by luck alone. Skating on all this frost and ice was not easy.

Then she looked up and saw exactly whose stall this was.

“Finally, a customer!” André the ice cream man said, a big smile on his face.

Alix scowled. “Sorry, I’m not buying any of your ice cream.”

“Are you sure? Today is Valentine’s Day, so all my ice cream is free! And I have plenty, since not many people have passed by today–”

“Last time I asked for ice cream you gave me a plain vanilla and told me there must be something wrong with me. So no, I don’t want your ice cream.”

Out of everything she had wanted to think about today, this was last on her list. That day, over two years ago now, where poor newly 15 year old Alix had been skating down this very bridge and wondering what the hell was wrong with her for not being interested in any of that stupid romantic crap that everyone else seemed to just _love_.

Even the quiet ones, the ones who she had been _sure_ must be just like her, because hey, they had never said out loud that they liked people, right? But no. Traitors, all of them.

Quiet Nathaniel, with his crush on Marinette accidentally revealed to the whole class. Oh, he got crushes alright, he just hid them, that was all. And they were still a big deal to him somehow. Quiet Juleka, brave enough to come out as a lesbian. Apparently she had somehow been repressing her crushes on girls, and only just noticed.

_Traitors._

Alix hadn’t wanted to think of them as traitors. But that cursed day, skating down that bridge, she couldn’t help it. They were all traitors. She was the only one like this, the only one who was… heartless? Some kind of freak?

Of course 15 year olds were dumb and stupid, and could hardly be expected to maintain actual relationships or whatever. But boy did they _talk_ about them. Everyone seemed to have liked someone, at least once. Usually a lot more than once. And usually at an age that was a hell of a lot younger than 15.

Was she repressing it, like Juleka? No, she tried to feel that way, and simply didn’t. There was just _nothing_.

Except mild disgust for the entire concept of romance, maybe, like a little kid grossed out at the thought of cooties or whatever.

She had skated down that bridge, wondering when she was going to be able to grow the hell up, and at the same time not even wanting to, because why did romance have to be such a big deal anyway? Was she ever going to change?

And deciding to figure things out once and for all, she had gone to ask for some of that legendary soulmate ice cream. People always talked about how André must be psychic or something, always knowing exactly who someone was going to end up with. If anyone could solve this mystery, it was him.

But then all he had done was stare down at his ice cream, ladle in hand hovering over it, at a complete loss for what to even choose. Alix had watched, her heart sinking – if she even had a heart. If even the magic ice cream man couldn’t figure her out, then surely there must be some problem with her. Some defect.

And she had wanted him to reassure her, to tell her that it was okay, that this could happen to people, or anything else that could make her feel better, because even then she was already on the verge of tears and wondering if Hawk Moth would bother akumatizing her again over something so stupid. She had wanted someone to make her feel better.

Instead, she got told the opposite.

_I can’t sense your aura… it seems you don’t have one. Is something wrong? I’m so sorry to be the one to break the news to you… I hope you can still find happiness, but… this truly is unfortunate…_

It was hard to remember the exact words now. Only that pitying expression on his face, like he was giving someone their imminent death sentence. He had handed her a plain vanilla anyway, and she simply threw it on the floor at her feet and skated home.

At least that had been the evening she’d looked it up online and found out being aromantic was real, and since that moment things had been at least a little more tolerable, knowing that there wasn’t actually anything wrong with her. No, just with society in general trying to trick her into thinking she was broken.

But still. That memory of poor 15 year old Alix being sickened at a simple ice cream haunted her. Even now, two years later, it still filled her with rage.

André the ice cream man… _he_ filled her with rage.

And now he was frowning at her, squinting, leaning forwards slightly.

“Wait, you are… Alix?”

She shot him a glare. “Yeah. That very same one. Did you expect me to be taller or something? Because no, I haven’t changed since then. About anything.”

To her surprise, a smile spread across his face. “I have been hoping to bump into you again! There’s something I simply must tell you!”

“Pfff, an apology?”

“Yes, exactly!”

Wait… what?

“I remember, there was an akuma attack,” André said, “in which you revealed on the Ladyblog that you are _aromantic_. I had never come across this word before, but many of my customers were talking about it afterwards, so I did some research. Now I understand why my ice cream trick didn’t work on you! I was going about it all wrong!”

He began piling various ice cream flavours onto a cone eagerly, much more pleased now.

“Perhaps some people’s soulmates are not romantic. After all, if one is _aromantic_ , then how can that be the case? Perhaps a platonic ice cream is better suited for you instead, to help bring you together with your platonic soulmate. Ta-da!”

He held out the finished ice cream at her. Alix stared at it, vaguely registering the weird purple and orange combination, with what looked like a cherry tomato on top, of all things. Part of her wanted to take it, but…

She sighed. “I’m not sure I should have this.”

“Why not?” His face fell.

“Look, the thing is… I really do appreciate this whole platonic ice cream thing. But can you please stop with the soulmate talk?”

“But soulmates can indeed be platonic!”

“That doesn’t fix the problem. I mean, I have a close friend. He’s really awesome, and I care about him lots, and I think if I had to pick a soulmate, it would be him. But… ugh, I guess it’s just an aro thing to hate the idea of soulmates in general.”

She took the ice cream from his hands anyway, wondering if this thing would actually taste any good.

“I hate the idea that you’re like… destined to _have to_ be with someone, with no choice. It’s the kind of stupid nonsense that gets pushed in movies and makes everyone so obsessed with finding _the one_ and all that other stuff I can’t stand. Saying that soulmates can be platonic doesn’t fix it. That’s just a cop-out people use to pretend they care about aromantic people.”

André nodded. “Thank you for explaining. In fact, you are not the first person to suggest such things. Maybe I should change my marketing strategy a little.”

“Huh, really?”

“Yes! I want my ice cream to be for everyone. Not just most people. _Everyone_.”

He sounded sincere, and was smiling at her so optimistically – a complete change from how he had been the last time she’d spoken to him. Ever since then, she had avoided him whenever she could. (Marinette’s flower petal plan was the only exception, of course.) So it was no wonder she hadn’t realized that maybe he had actually _changed_.

Wow… André actually being nice to her. Who would have thought?

She took a bite of the ice cream, giving him a thumbs up. It did taste a bit weird, but then again, his ice creams were more famous for their aesthetics than anything else.

“Thanks,” she said. “You know what? I changed my mind about you. And uh… your ice cream does taste nice. I’m sorry for throwing it on the floor last time.”

“And I’m sorry for making you feel upset enough to do that.”

Hearing his apology lifted her spirits. Maybe this Valentine’s Day wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“You did say this is free, right?” she asked. “Because I don’t have any money with me.”

“It’s free. And I think I owe it to you anyway.”

“Well, thank you very much. You just earned yourself another customer.”

“I’m so glad!” He started humming his little ice cream song, one that had previously made Alix want to gag whenever she heard it, but this time it just didn’t seem so bad somehow.

If people really could change their opinions like that, making an actual effort? Perhaps the world wasn’t all doom and gloom for aros after all. Thank goodness.

Alix skated off with her ice cream, slowly so that she wouldn’t drop it, feeling a lot better about everything.

 

She had already finished it by the time she got to the Louvre. Expecting to spend the night alone like she had done last year, while Nath was off with Marc and Jalil was cramming for exams, she opened the door to her room–

“Hey Alix!”

“NATH?” She dropped the empty ice cream glass. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d be with Marc!”

Nathaniel rushed over to pick up the fallen ice cream glass, handing it back to her. “I got back from Marc’s place like an hour ago! It was really fun, of course, but you probably aren’t interested in hearing about that in detail, knowing you.”

“Uh… yeah. No but seriously. Why aren’t you still with him?”

“I spent the whole day with him, Alix. Like, the entire morning, afternoon, and evening. It’s your turn now! And plus, I didn’t hang out with you last year on Valentine’s Day because it was a school day and I felt bad about that, so I didn’t wanna repeat it this year. Anyway, what’s this?” He was pointing at the ice cream glass.

“Oh… I bumped into André. He gave me a platonic ice cream.”

“Ooh, he makes those now?”

“Yeah. He’s alright now. He apologized for… last time.”

“That’s awesome!” Nath grabbed her arm and pulled her into the room properly. “Anyway, I ordered lots of pizza and the entire _Mecha Monkey vs Cyber Shark_ trilogy is on Netflix now, so should we watch it?”

She grinned. “Netflix and _actual_ chill?”

“Of course. Only the best for the coolest aces in the world, which is us.” He sprawled across the bed, opening his laptop and scrolling through movie lists.

Something about the colour of his clothes, and that ridiculous emo hair of his, it really reminded Alix of something…

She glanced down at the empty ice cream glass in her hand. Huh. She still didn’t believe in soulmates of course, but maybe André’s ice cream really did have a magical component to it.

 

* * *

 

 

The second year of lycée had been worse than the first, and the final year was the worst of all. Exam after exam, homework piled on more homework, stress like nothing before. Nath just couldn’t wait to get out of this cursed place and move onto doing something better with his miserable life. Was that emo of him? Maybe. Hanging out with Marc so much had made both of them gradually grow more and more emo over time.

There was the whole _being an adult now_ thing too. At least living in central Paris he wasn’t expected to learn how to drive, and things like taxes and jobs were still a little while away. But the prospect of actually beginning to be in charge of his own life now was kind of terrifying. Who was it who decided 18 year olds should legally be adults? Nath did not feel like one at all.

“It’s not just me who feels guilty about celebrating the new year when I have so many exams coming up, right?” he asked, staring up at the fireworks outside from below the glass pyramid of the museum where he allegedly lived.

“Nah, me too,” Alix replied. She wasn’t looking at the fireworks, though – she was on her phone. And she did _not_ look happy.

“What’s up?”

“Uh… the fireworks.” She gave him a half-hearted smile.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s not a big deal. It’s just…” She was gripping her phone rather tightly in her hand. “I invited all my friends here tonight to watch the fireworks. It’s cool to see them from here, right? But you’re the only one that could make it.”

“Really? What are the others doing? Are they with their families? I know Marc is.”

“Well Juleka and Rose went off on a holiday to Scotland together. Marinette’s at the Agreste Mansion. Mylène and Ivan are like… I don’t know, they never replied. Kim said he could make it but then cancelled to go hang out with Ondine. And I don’t care about anyone else at my school or from our old school.”

“That sucks…”

“It’s not even the first time,” she said, an incredibly bitter tone creeping into her voice. “Juleka and Rose don’t really talk to me much nowadays. And I don’t even know why I invited Marinette or Mylène or anyone, we wish each other happy birthday and that’s it. And as for _Kim_ …”

She was glaring at the ground, holding her phone so tight Nath was afraid she would snap it.

“I guess that time he pinkie-promised that he would never stop being my best friend was just some stupid childish thing that didn’t mean anything to him. Because he won’t stop ditching me. Apparently that mermaid-fucker has better things to be doing with his time.”

“Has he really been ditching you?!”

“Not on purpose,” Alix said quickly. “I mean, I don’t think so. He wouldn’t. I’m just… ugh, it’s not really a big deal, I shouldn’t complain. He must be busy. Although he always seems to have time for Ondine, no matter what…”

“It is a big deal!” Nath insisted, knowing perfectly well how much it hurt for Alix to have friends leaving her like that. “Aren’t you supposed to be his sidekick? He can’t abandon you just because he has a girlfriend!”

“I’m happy for him, I swear I am. He can do what he wants! But like… he _promised_ he wouldn’t… and anyway it’ll always be like this for me, won’t it…”

“Like what?”

She hesitated for a few seconds.

“Like… I don’t want to play the aro card, but… people take romance more seriously than friendships, even when they think they don’t. Kim said he didn’t. But he _does_. He does it subconsciously. I don’t know, I can just _tell_ somehow, okay? He can claim all he wants that he considers his best friends to be important, but deep down, I’ll always be second-rate to him. To everyone.”

She crossed her arms, seemingly trying not to look as hurt as she felt.

“All my friendships have expiry dates, you know? Already passed it with Juleka and Rose, a long time ago. I guess I passed it with Kim too. It was inevitable. And I don’t mean to be salty, but… he said he wouldn’t do this and he _did!_ And I’m aroace, so this will happen again and again, because I’m not as important and romance, and it fucking HURTS…”

The pain in her voice was so clear, and it was like a punch to the gut for Nath. He couldn’t even care less about the fireworks anymore.

“You don’t deserve to be forgotten about like that!” he said, trying to think of anything at all that would make her feel better. “I’ll always be there for you, I–”

“Oh god – Nath – I didn’t mean to make you feel guilty!” She hastily put a smile on her face. “It’s really sweet of you to be so nice, but like, I can always just… I don’t know, get a pet or something! I know you’re just trying to make me feel better. And thanks. But I know you love Marc, it’s okay. He’s super important to you, and I’m so happy for that. I’m just being a salt-mine today, I’m sorry. You don’t have to carry on hanging out with me just because I’m complaining about all this. I swear. I’ll be happy as long as you’re happy. It’s fine.”

It was clear she was trying so hard to act nonchalant, but Nath could easily see through it. If anything, she was probably about to start crying. And he simply couldn’t stand to see her so upset. No one was allowed to hurt his best friend. NO ONE.

“I meant what I said, Alix.” He put his hands on her shoulders and looked right at her, ignoring the fireworks entirely. “I’m never leaving you, okay? You’re the most important person in my life.”

She blinked. “But… Marc…”

“I love Marc. He’s important to me too. But he isn’t a replacement. He can’t be! I knew you first, you know. I don’t think I can ever feel the same way about anyone else than I do about you.”

She was simply staring at him in shock, not saying anything. He softly brushed a hair out of her face.

“I promise. And I _mean it_. You’re special to me, and you always have been. You’re like… not even a sidekick. You’re my hero! My partner in crime. I could never leave you, I don’t even know what I’d do without you! I love you, you know? I love you so much.”

The comic he had drawn for her years ago suddenly came back to mind, the one about the aromantic girl who had to deal with living in a cruel soulmate world, until she found a best friend who made her see pretty yellow stars that no one else did.

Right now, looking at Alix, he understood the feeling.

He saw _stars_.

And looking into her eyes, he was pretty sure he saw stars there too.

He pulled her into a tight hug, as they so often did, and yet this time for once it was much more meaningful. After a few seconds of stunned silenced she hugged him back. Was she crying? It sounded like she might have been, just a little.

At least this time it was for a good reason. Believing that you would always go through your life with no one truly sticking by your side no matter what, that must have been another level of isolation entirely. Nath knew a lot about isolation, having been a loner for so much of his life.

But thanks to Alix, he wasn’t a loner. Thanks to her, he had the most important friend he could ever have. And if anyone ever left her behind? Well, that was their loss.

He would _never_ leave her behind.

Because Alix was his friend, and he would never drop her. _Ever._

“Yo…” She hugged him a little tighter, speaking quietly into his ear. “Thank you.”

“Of course.”

“Remember the star comic?”

“Yeah?”

“You really did base it off us, didn’t you?”

“Definitely.”

“I knew it. The stars are real.”

“Yeah. Thank you for being the best friend ever.”

She stepped back, and he noticed with relief that she now had a giant grin on her face. “Hey, I love you too, by the way. But like, no romo.”

A grin slipped onto his face too. “Obviously. And it applies to my declaration of love too. That was no romo as well.”

“Good! I love that phrase, it’s the best.”

The new year fireworks had come to an end by now, and the Louvre was eerily silent. Nath looked around at the dark empty expanse of space, an entire museum that they allegedly lived in just open for the taking. “You wanna go sock-sliding?”

“I was just thinking that!”

“It’ll never not be fun.”

The future was looking so much brighter already now that he knew his best friend would always be by his side, and he would be with her too, no matter what else happened. Even the rest of the final school year might just be tolerable. He could always come back home each day, to the person who was responsible for even making the place feel like home, and everything would be alright.

And no romance was needed whatsoever.

In fact…

“Hey Alix? You ever heard of a QPR?”

“I’m _aro_ , of course I have!”

Nath grinned, slipping his shoes off and picking them up. “If you can beat me to the Mona Lisa then maybe I’ll properly ask you for one – ready steady go!” He sock-slid off, the sound of her laughter behind him warming his heart.

He was definitely going to let her win, of course…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright it's not August anymore but I FINISHED IT!! Thanks to everyone who has been reading this <3 Is it weird that I care about a brotp more than like... any ship? I just adore these two, so much.


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